Martial Arts Family Vacation Challenge
by glainfach
Summary: The long awaited follow up to Martial Arts Motherhood Challenge. Ranma and his growing family set off on an adventure so grueling it will challenge even the world's greatest martial artist... a driving vacation with the kids?
1. Prologue

**The Martial Arts Family Vacation Challenge**  
by Juliet Carnell  
based on Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko

_Hi everyone. Here is the long-awaited follow up to Martial Arts Motherhood Challenge. I've been very busy working on other things including a novel I hope to get published someday. I'm still quite occupied with that and other projects so the ground rules for this book are going to be a little different from MAMC. I won't be putting out a chapter every week like I did before, but I still hope to have this finished before next spring. So sit back, relax and get ready for another fun ride._

**Prologue**

Perm adjusted the contrast on the XBR-9000 as a cloud passed overhead. The South African made sniper scope was actually a sophisticated multi-spectrum surveillance system capable of tracking multiple targets at ranges up to three kilometers. Hooked up to a laptop, as it was now, it could also identify targets based on biometric information stored in a database back home.

From her perch atop the Atamatsu Love Hotel she had a clear view of the entire Kuno estate, but as yet the primary target had not shown him or herself. She reached up and tapped the broadcast button on her headset.

"Report?"

"Clip here, in position, nothing going on."

Perm hit a key on the laptop and the huge fifty-caliber rifle, a North Korean version of an old American design, swung silently on its robotic mount as the attached scope zoomed in on a tree near the entrance of the compound. There was no sign of the young Amazon hidden there, so Perm tapped another key and the display changed to infrared. Even now the girl's outline was barely visible amidst the flowering cherry blossoms.

"Maintain your position and watch for approaching vehicles. Anyone coming in this early will either be family or service personnel. Snip, where are you?"

Perm noted with satisfaction the blinking red symbol next to the girl's name which indicated the scope had lost track of her second operative. The gun swung suddenly to the left and the display reverted to visible light. The scope locked in briefly on a smiling young face before it disappeared again into a sea of roses."

"I had to abandon my original position when security set up a watch post there. I'm now concealed fourteen meters west of the altar on the far side of the pool."

"Good work, both of you. Stay sharp and remember what we're here for."

Perm allowed herself to relax for a moment. The Kuno-Tendo wedding was, she hoped, the first real break she'd had since coming to Japan. The target had remained secluded at home since returning from the hospital eight weeks ago and all Perm's attempts to infiltrate the Anything Goes Dojo had been thwarted. Security there was non-existent, but her target was surrounded by a web of bad luck and chaos that jinxed her every move.

"Limousine approaching the front gate from the west."

Clip's voice ended her musing and Perm quickly set the scope to track the car as it made its way up the driveway. It rolled to a stop in front of the main house, a huge western style monstrosity that irked Perm's post-Communist sensibilities. A security team descended on the vehicle and one gorilla sized westerner opened the rear door.

A woman in a slinky black dress stepped from the limo and turned to speak to the guard. The tracking system came to life and popped up a window with a picture and bio information. Perm read these out loud as others began emerging from the limo.

"Nabiki Tendo, female, age 30… Akane Saotome, female, age 29… Kasumi Ono, MD, female, age 31… Masato or Hideto Saotome, male, age 7…" Perm chuckled at the system's inability to identify the twins accurately. Akane Saotome returned to the car and held out her arms. Someone inside handed her a bundle and another window popped up. "Ranko Saotome, female, age 8 weeks? Who'd put a baby into a sniper database?"

Suddenly the laptop burst into activity as all of the windows were wiped from the screen and red lines appeared from the corners of the display converging on the center. A targeting grid appeared and wind velocity was automatically calculated. Finally a window popped up framed in red with the words "Target Confirmed" pulsing across the top.

Perm smiled and fingered the ammo clip resting next to the laptop. It contained six huge bullets, each with a laser guided homing apparatus whose effective range was over five kilometers. "Ranma Saotome," she read from the screen. "Male, age 29, mother of one…"

o o o

"Ranma," Akane said turning towards her tuxedo clad husband. "Would you mind changing Ranko-chan before you go looking for Kuno?"

Ranma nodded somberly and reached for the squirming bundle. "Sure, Mom'll be here soon so why don't you go help Nabiki get ready."

Out of everyone at the Saotome residence that morning, Akane had been the most shaken by Ranko's unexpected transformation. Nabiki thought it was hilarious, while the two doctors, Kasumi and Toufuu, simply examined the infant and pronounced him a healthy baby boy. The twins high-fived one another as they celebrated a new little brother to play with and even Ranma was more concerned about finding a clean shirt to match the one Ranko-chan had soaked.

Akane on the other hand burst into tears at the first sight of their daughter's new form. In eight short weeks she had formed a maternal bond with the baby every bit as strong Ranma's. She saw Ranko-chan as the daughter she had always wanted, the one who would grow up to be everything Akane could not because her own mother died when she was a toddler. Now that future was threatened by the same bizarre magic that plagued Ranma's life and Akane just couldn't seem to deal with it.

He knew what bothered her most was not knowing why this was happening now. They had tried so many times to trigger the curse, even as early as the day Ranko-chan was born, using water of all different temperatures. Bath time had become a nervous game of will-she-or-won't-she and they were finally beginning to believe his vision of their daughter turning into a boy was all just a big mistake.

Ranma looked at the black haired, brown eyed little boy in his arms. There was no question this was Ranko-chan, the female inside him was screaming so at the top of her lungs. He bent to kiss his baby's forehead, but wrinkled his nose instead. "Whew! You really do need changing, sweetheart. This time daddy's ready for you. Nobody gets off the same move on Ranma Saotome twice. Besides, I've got another clean shirt in the diaper bag in case you do."

Fifteen minutes later his parents walked into the room just as Ranko-chan was finishing off a bottle of breast milk.

"There you are, dear," Nodoka said reaching for the baby. "They're looking for you out front, so you best run along. We'll take care of Ranko-chan for you."

Ranma stood up and pulled the cloth diaper from his shoulder. "Thanks, Mom. I just changed… um… her so you shouldn't have to worry about that until after the ceremony."

Genma chuckled. "The twins already spilled the beans, boy. We know Ranko-chan's not a girl now."

Nodoka cradled the baby in her arms and smiled up at her son. "Don't look so shocked, Ranma. I've accepted your curse, this is no different. Whatever happens, I love you both with all my heart. Now go, before that Kuno boy starts waving his sword around again."

o o o

Perm watched with distracted interest as the last of the bridesmaids, Akane Saotome, joined her sister and two other women beside the altar. Ranma Saotome stood on the other side with a man identified as Tatewaki Kuno. The stage had been erected in the backyard of the estate in front of a seated crowd of about two-hundred. Everything was draped in white lace and bouquets of white roses were everywhere. Watching the wedding through the sniper scope made it all seem like part of a gaudy American movie.

The bride appeared and Perm tried to imagine herself, dressed in yards and yards of white lace, walking slowly past all those people with her hand on the arm of her father. Not that Perm's father looked anything like Soun Tendo. Nabiki's father stood out handsomely as the only man in the wedding party dressed in a formal kimono. He was also crying the whole way down the aisle.

"Snip, how's it going?"

Her headset crackled to life as it tried to amplify the whispers of the girl concealed in a rose bush near the wedding. "Still recording, but there aren't very many conversations now, mostly just comments about the bride having a lot of nerve wearing white? Why is that a problem, lingdui?"

Perm's eyebrows arched as she considered an answer. "I have no idea. None of this makes any sense to me. I'm still wondering why the groom hasn't prostrated himself before the bride's sisters yet."

"The bride wears white as a sign of purity," Clip's voice broke in. "Obviously, some believe the bride is not a virgin."

"You watch too much Western television, Clip," Perm said with a grin.

"Not me. My grandmother's the one addicted to soap operas. It's all she ever talks about anymore."

Down at the wedding, the bride kissed her father goodbye and mounted the short flight of steps to join the groom on stage. A priest stepped between them and began reading from a large black book. Perm chuckled as the bio information which popped up for this man revealed he was actually a salary man from Shinjuku whose part time job was acting as a priest for western style weddings.

Suddenly a vase full of roses behind the altar burst apart, spraying shards of glass and rose petals across the stage. Perm instantly rolled into position behind the huge rifle, the ammo clip in one hand and the other on the trigger. Her headset suddenly blared painfully in her ears as its circuits were too slow to keep Snip's sudden shout from being amplified.

"It came from behind me, lingdui! Low trajectory, small caliber like a handgun. What should I do?"

"Hold your position," Perm said calmly as she watched through the gun's eyepiece. The groom had drawn his katana and stood like a defiant idiot, the perfect target for a second shot. Ranma on the other hand leapt across the stage, looping one arm around the bride while planting the other for a vault that set them both flying towards the pool.

Suddenly the stage floor where Ranma had just been standing exploded as if hit by canon fire. Shards of wood bounced off Tatewake, but the fool never moved an inch. The report of the gunshot came from her left, so Perm swung her own rifle in that direction. With the help of the infrared scanner she quickly located the hot gun barrel on a rooftop below her and several blocks away.

As she watched, the gun disappeared and a figure sprinted from the concealed position to disappear down a stairwell. "That was a handheld shot? He might have been aiming at anyone."

"Lingdui! The pool, lingdui! Look at the pool!"

"I hear you, Snip." Perm said as calmly as she could. "Stop shouting or you'll reveal your position."

"I'm sorry, lindui, but Saotome and the bride fell into the pool."

Perm swung the big gun back in the direction of the wedding. The red targeting grid reappeared in her eyepiece as the system locked in on Ranma again. "Of course he did, water offers an ideal defense against high caliber gunfire."

"But, lindui! He didn't turn into a woman!"

Perm blinked as she stared at the image before her. Ranma was leaning over, pulling the soaking wet and furious looking bride out of the pool. He looked perfectly normal, except that he was soaking wet and male. "He's using some sort of magic to keep the water from triggering the curse."

"Take the shot!" Clip's excited voice rang in Perm's ears. "Lindui, you'll never have a better opportunity than this. He can't change into a warrior, so you can't possibly fail."

Automatically Perm placed the ammo clip against the breech of the rifle. All she had to do was ram it home and squeeze the trigger. Her years of sniper training with the PLA took over and she cleared her mind of all distractions. Her heart rate slowed to less than fifty beats per minute and her breathing dropped to only one breath every ten seconds. Time began to stretch out as she prepared herself to end the life of Ranma Saotome once and for all.

Then she slowly moved her finger from the trigger to the safety catch. She flicked it on as she let the ammo clip drop to the floor. "No," she said into her headset, "that's not our mission for today. Besides, this is a dishonorable way to kill a warrior. Ranma Saotome, even if he has chosen to remain male, is a warrior and as such deserves to die in combat. Resume your monitoring…"

The rest of her command was cut off as the tarpaulin concealing her position was torn away by a violent gust of wind. Perm rolled onto her back just in time to watch a blood red helicopter roar past a scant three meters overhead. The only detail she could see from so close at hand was the huge black rose painted on the belly of the beast.

o o o

Shampoo clapped her hand across her eyes and shook her head. "I can't watch anymore of this, great-grandmother. It brings back too many painful memories."

Cologne would have been concerned, except Shampoo was trying too hard not to laugh out loud. "Relax child, now you know how I felt all those years. Besides, this is the most fun I've had since they stopped making silent movies."

Shampoo grinned. "What was the name of that American actor? The one you used to talk about all the time."

"Errol Flynn, but he came along after silent films. What a specimen! With a bit of training that man could have become a true warrior. In some ways Ranma always reminded me of him."

Shampoo's smile disappeared. "She almost did it, didn't she?"

"Almost, but Perm knows the real mission is to find out who's behind that computer game. The council's assassination order comes second. I wouldn't worry too much, Ranma managed to avoid being killed by our tribe's best warrior. He even managed to avoid marrying her." Seeing sadness creep into her great-granddaughter's eyes, she added, "You still love him, don't you child?"

"Not so much as I love Mousse and my children, but I would not want to see him dead."

"Perm is still young and you trained her well. You heard what she said, have faith she'll do the right thing."

"It's not my training I'm worried about, but what they filled her head with at the PLA."

The old woman tapped the spacebar on her keyboard and the video from Perm's sniper scope continued to play out on the big flat screen monitor. "At least give the girl credit for having the presence of mind to keep recording all of this. Most young warriors would have simply run away after their position was compromised."

They watched as the strange red helicopter hovered above the wedding, its backwash sending everyone except the groom running for cover. Black ropes dropped from its doors as four masked women in black leotards repelled to the stage. They touched down and drew small automatic weapons before surrounding Tatewake.

"Kuno family security force?" Cologne asked.

"I don't think so, female ninjas aren't their style. These look more like… gymnasts"

Suddenly the soundtrack came to life as Snip reported in. What the young Amazon said was insignificant compared to the cackling laughter which could be heard in the background.

"Oh no," Shampoo slumped back in her chair and moaned. "It _is_ Kodachi!"

A lithe figure in a red leotard leapt from the audience onto the stage. In her hand was a bouquet of black roses, which she promptly flung into the face of her brother who slumped forward and fell unconscious at her feet. While placing one foot on her brother's prostrate form, Kodachi struck a heroic pose, threw back her head and laughed like a pirate from an old swashbuckler.

o o o

Akane watched as Nabiki and Tatewaki danced serenely across the floor. Her sister looked only a little worse for wear after her dunking in the pool. Tatewaki's eyes were finally beginning to uncross from whatever his crazy sister drugged him with and were now focused only on his bride. She had to admit in an odd way they fit one another, Mr. and Mrs. Kuno.

Akane sighed and let a relieved smile cross her face as she turned and went looking for her own husband. She found him sitting on the remains of the stage, holding Ranko-chan in the crook of one arm while teasing him with a bottle.

"Still having trouble getting him to take a bottle?"

Ranma looked up with delight twinkling in his eyes. "Yeah, he knows where this stuff comes from and he wants the real thing. Sometimes I wish Shampoo had sent us an antidote as well as the waterproof soap. Now that this disaster of a wedding is over I want to get back to our normal life as quickly as possible."

Akane laughed as she hopped up on the stage beside him. "Sweetheart, we don't have a _normal_ life. Don't you remember what our _first_ wedding was like?"

"Oh, right. I guess you've got a point. At least we didn't have world war three break out at any of our weddings."

"I'm just thankful no one got hurt." Akane shuddered and slid closer to Ranma. "Promise me you'll always be there to snatch our children out of the way of any bullets life throws at them."

"I may have to grow as old as Happosai to do that, hon."

"That's okay with me," Akane put one arm around her husband's waist, then took the bottle from him with the other. "Just don't start snatching panties if you do."

She rubbed the nipple gently under Ranko-chan's nose until the baby opened his mouth and started sucking in the milk. Akane grinned smugly and Ranma used his now free hand to plink her on the forehead.

"Smart-aleck."

"Jerk."

"Un-cute tomboy."

"Pervert."

"I love you, Akane Tendo, mother of my children."

"I know. I love you too, Ranma Saotome, father of my children... and mother of my sometimes daughter."

"You're right. We _don't_ have a normal life."

x x x

Author's Notes:

(1) lingdui – Chinese for group leader.

(2) katana – Japanese long sword.

(3) PLA – People's Liberation Army, the standing army of China.

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright © 2006 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Ranma ½' are copyright © 1987-1996 by Takahashi Rumiko and are used here without license.


	2. Chapter 1 – Nerima

**Chapter One  
Nerima**

Akane eased the door open and peeked into the dark bedroom. On the upper bunk Hideto was curled into a tight ball of sheets, pillows and pajamas. Below him Masato lay sprawled sideways across his bunk, his little feet sticking out from under the covers.

She marveled at how accurately each twin mimicked one of his parent's sleeping habits. Even more amazing, half an hour from now their roles would likely be reversed. She closed the door quietly and moved across the hall to the nursery.

Entering without turning on the light, Akane crossed the room and looked into the crib. In the dim light from the hallway she couldn't make out the color of Ranko-chan's hair. Not that there was all that much difference between the dark red hair of her daughter and the black hair of her son to begin with. She and Ranma mostly relied on the color of her eyes to tell which gender she was at any given moment. Somehow the twins seemed to know without even looking.

It had been a rough couple of months since Nabiki's wedding. Akane overcame her initial disappointment at Ranko-chan's transformation very slowly. Ultimately common sense won out over unreasoned anxiety. Her daughter rarely stayed male for more than a few hours at a time and nothing so trivial was going to change the love she felt for the littlest Saotome.

Akane turned on the baby monitor and stepped quietly back into the hall. The children were all asleep in bed, now if she could only make the biggest kid in the house join them she might get a few hours sleep herself tonight.

She headed down the stairs and stopped at Happosai's old room, which they now used for Ranma's office. The ancient pervert had left the house shortly after Akane, Ranma and Kasumi went off to college. The scarcity of panty thefts during the past decade led everyone to believe he'd departed Nerima for good, but the threat of his return always loomed shadowy and menacing at the back of Akane's mind. If that depraved old man ever laid a finger on her babies, nothing her father could say would save him from her wrath.

Behind the door she could hear Ranma's voice as he spoke on the phone. A sudden thought made her smile wickedly. If Happosai ever _did_ show up and try anything perverted, Akane's wrath would be nothing compared to Ranma's. The world's greatest martial artist had, in the months since Ranko-chan's birth, acquired a lioness' share of maternal instinct.

It was cute watching her husband suddenly turn into super-mom without even changing genders first. He would suddenly stop whatever he was doing to clean a messy face, wipe a runny nose or cuddle a crying infant. But there was a darker side to it that worried Akane. Ranma's battle aura, which had not changed significantly since high school, had recently taken on a new quality. One distinctly female in nature and alarmingly unstable.

She noticed Ranma was speaking English. He wasn't as good at it as she was, but then she couldn't speak Spanish, Portuguese or Italian as he did. Ranma could always master anything he really applied himself to and after the dojo went international that included foreign languages.

She eased open the door and slipped into the office where Ranma was sitting at his desk talking to someone on the computer screen. He looked up and waved her over.

"_Hold on, Jeffu. Akane just walk through my door._" Ranma said in English, then in Japanese he said, "Come say hello to Jeff. He was just asking how you were."

Akane walked up behind her husband and leaned over his shoulder so the camera wouldn't have to pan up when she talked. On the screen was the smiling face of Ranma's old friend and business partner from America. Jeff's rugged good looks, sandy blond hair and big toothy grin were sadly canceled out by the hideously loud Hawaiian shirt he was wearing. The bookcase behind him was bathed in bright sunlight, reminding her that Jeff was indeed talking to them from the other side of the world.

"_Hello Jeff, how have you been?_" Akane said with a big smile.

"_Busy, as usual, but I can't complain._"

"_That not what you just tell me. You complain plenty!_" Ranma interjected with a laugh.

"_Well I might complain to the boss, but I'm not foolhardy enough to complain to the boss's boss. I remember how Akane deals with most problems._" Jeff made a chopping motion with his hand and then dragged a finger across his throat.

"_I only do that to cinder blocks and blockheads._"

"_Exactly why I'm being extra careful. I can hardly wait to see you again, Akane._" Jeff said with a big grin.

"_Oh?_" Akane said with surprise. "_Are you coming to Japan soon?_"

Ranma began frantically waving his hand close to his chest where he thought Akane wouldn't notice. Unfortunately she did, but Jeff didn't.

"_Probably later this year, but I'll be seeing you long before that here in LA._"

Ranma stopped waving his hand and used it to slap his forehead. Turning to his wife he said in Japanese, "I'll explain later."

"_Explain what?_" Akane said looking back and forth between her rapidly shrinking husband and the frowning American on the computer screen.

"_Um... Sorry, boss. I thought you two had already discussed this._"

"_Not yet, Jeffu._" Ranma glanced up and cringed at the look Akane was giving him. "_Maybe we talk more later, okay?_"

"_Sure, boss. I'll have Kelly send you those forms. Fill them out whenever you can and call me back. Um... Good luck. Bye, Akane._"

"_Goodbye, Jeff._" Akane said frostily. "_Thank you for letting me in on the big secret._"

"_So long, Jeffu._" Ranma sullenly reached for the keyboard and the screen went dark.

"Well?" Akane stood up and folded her arms across her chest.

"Are the kids asleep? Maybe I should go look in on Ranko-chan."

"Don't change the subject, Ranma. The children are fast asleep. You'd only wake them up on purpose. Now, explain to me why I'm meeting Jeff in Los Angeles."

"Jeff's in trouble. The number of dojos in North America has nearly doubled and it's primarily due to all the publicity surrounding what happened in New York last year."

"That doesn't sound very troubling."

"It is when those new dojos are empty. Kids signed up initially because they wanted to learn the moves they saw me doing on television, but I haven't been seen again since then. The new franchise owners are clamoring for personal appearances."

Ranma leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out and twirling his toes around in opposite directions. He'd always been a man of action and the sedentary life of a businessman didn't suit him well. "And then there's the training issue. With so many new dojos there's a need for more advanced level instructors. But Jeff thinks I should do all of the advanced instructor training myself."

"Ranma, you're not suggesting I go over there and train the advanced instructors!" Akane was shocked, her husband knew better than to think she was up for something like that. Her most advanced technique involved materializing large heavy objects out of thin air and that only worked reliably when Ranma pissed her off.

"Hmm, I hadn't considered that possibility. Imagine an army of uncute martial arts instructors marching across America teaching impressionable young children how to vent their frustrations by pounding cinder blocks into dust. It boggles the imagination."

Akane felt her face flush and the presence of one of those large heavy objects loomed menacingly above her head for a moment. Then Ranma grinned and she counted to ten. Once again he'd managed to divert her attention from the real issue by infuriating her with an insult.

"Very funny, wise guy. If you'll be doing all that training _and _personal appearances too, just how long do they expect you to be in the United States?"

"Four weeks." Ranma cringed from the onslaught that was sure to follow such a remark.

"Four weeks!!! Is Jeff out of his mind? Doesn't he realize you have a new born baby to take care of?"

"Yes," Ranma was trying to sound as composed as possible. "He's well aware of that, but as far as the rest of the company is concerned that's only an excuse for my female half not to be there."

Akane seethed. Even if Ranma hadn't been the baby's mother, how could they ask him to abandon their daughter for a whole month? She knew this was important to the business, but how could he even consider such a thing? "Ranma, do you really think you can stand to be separated from Ranko-chan that long?"

Ranma's expression darkened. "I can't imagine myself leaving her for a day, much less a whole month. No, I'm taking her with me."

"You're what? Oh…" A light bulb suddenly went on over Akane's head. "So you want me to come along to take care of her while you're working, don't you?"

Ranma grinned broadly and nodded his head. "You and the boys too. Think of the wonderful opportunity this would be for them to see the world outside of Japan. We can take them to the original Disneyland. Visit Nabiki and see that enormous casino they're building. You and I can go to a real Broadway show together. What do you say, Akane?"

"We can't take the boys out of school for something like this."

"I told Jeff we can only come during August while the boys are on summer break."

"They won't like missing summer baseball camp."

"Maybe… or maybe not when I tell them they can see a major league ballgame in three different American cities. Jeff says he has the contacts to get us box seats."

"I don't know… Have you thought about what traveling with a five month old baby is going to be like?"

"It'll be great! Ranko-chan's a little angel. She loves riding in the car."

"Yeah, but she cried all the way home from the hospital."

"That's because we were flying in that noisy propeller driven thing Kuno showed up in. We'll be flying in nice quiet jets and not all that often. Jeff's assistant Kelly is going to arrange it so the family only stays in major cities while I fly out on day trips to the smaller ones. This is going to be great, Akane. Please say yes."

Akane tried to imagine all the stuff they usually packed in the van whenever they took Ranko-chan somewhere being lugged onto an airplane instead. Then she imagined it all scattered around a hotel room… in a five-star hotel… over looking Central Park… in New York City… where she'd always dreamed of going…

"We'll need to find someone to look after the dojo while we're gone. Maybe daddy wouldn't mind teaching a class or two."

Ranma smiled triumphantly. "I was thinking Ryouga might like to do it, if they're still in town by then."

o o o

"Settle down everyone." The police captain stepped up to the front of the crowded briefing room. "We've got a lot of ground to cover this morning, so let's get started. Before we move onto the active case list, I'd like to get an update on a few high profile cases now being handled by the political crimes unit at Tokyo Central. Detective Kuromaki?"

All eyes turned to the side of the room as the police captain gestured to a tall woman with short black hair. The men in the room sat up straighter while all the women assumed a defensive posture. Kuromaki was a stunning woman who knew just how to use her good looks to influence people. She plugged a memory key into the wall screen controller and cleared her throat demurely.

"I have three cases to brief you on this morning and I would like to begin with the one that took place here in Nerima about two months ago. As you are all probably aware, a wedding held at the Kuno estate was disrupted by gunfire and an invasion by a private security force. Because of the large number of dignitaries present at the time, the political crimes unit was asked to head up the investigation."

Kuromaki stepped to one side and the wall screen exploded into a mosaic of small windows, each showing a different video clip. She pointed the remote at one of them and it moved to the center position and expanded. It showed a highly magnified small caliber bullet with a flattened head.

"This slug was recovered from the back wall of the wedding alter and has been identified as the first shot fired. It is a 9mm unjacketed round fired from a handgun somewhere on the grounds of the estate. Forensics tells us the most likely target was this woman," Kuromaki enlarged another window showing an angry woman in a soaking wet wedding gown. "Nabiki Tendo Kuno."

There were murmurs around the room and Kuromaki smiled. "I see my information on this person is correct, you obviously know her and her family well. Mrs. Kuno and her new husband recently formed a syndicate for the purpose of building a casino and hotel complex in America. Included in this syndicate are several corporations, some of which are known fronts for organized crime families both here in Japan and in the United States. Because of this, we are looking into the possibility of this being a yakuza hit."

There were chuckles from quite a few of the police officers in the room.

"Is there some reason why this conclusion should be amusing?" She singled out a female officer in the front row who turned red with embarrassment.

"Um… well… Not to detract from your investigation, detective, but have you considered any of the hundreds of people Nabiki Tendo has blackmailed since she was in middle school?"

There was open laugher now from all parts of the room. Looking unruffled, Detective Kuromaki smiled and nodded her head. "We did, but had to dismiss the idea because so many of them are now employed by the police department." She waited for the ensuing laughter to die down before continuing. "Seriously, we've been considering her past record, but unless some new evidence comes to light we have no reason to follow up on that angle."

Clicking the remote a few more times, Nabiki and the bullet were replaced by a picture of the fractured remains of the wooden stage and images of two men in tuxedoes.

"This is the result of the second shot. So far no fragments of the projectile have been recovered, however there was residue of an explosive substance used by several foreign militaries. That points to either a small rocket launcher or a very large caliber rifle. The most likely target was one of these two gentlemen, Tatewake Kuno or Ranma Saotome, the groom and the best man.

"We are investigating the same yakuza connections for Mr. Kuno as for his wife, but we feel it is more likely Mr. Saotome was the target of this shot and frankly the sheer number of possible suspects has us stymied."

Again the room full of police officers laughed, but this time it was accompanied by much head nodding. Apparently this group was very familiar with Ranma's past and the number of strange and dangerous opponents he'd faced since settling in Nerima.

"A high caliber rifle or rocket launcher is a difficult thing to hide, so we set about a comprehensive examination of security videos from the Kuno estate and the surrounding neighborhoods. So far this has yielded very little in the way of concrete evidence. We have these four images of someone we believe to be the first gunman, but as you can see the generally poor quality makes them of little value."

Four video windows showing a figure running from the cover of one tree to the next popped up, but were all too fuzzy to even confirm the running figure was human. Kuromaki pressed the remote again and a single window showing the skyline of downtown Nerima replaced them.

"Forensics was able to plot the trajectory of the second shot to the roof of the Shamiki Bank building, which is just barely visible on the left of this webcam video. The surveillance system within the bank itself was conspicuously deactivated on the day of the wedding. However, this private webcam did yield new evidence which points to there being yet a third gunman. We were fortunate this image was of such high quality and also centered on this particular building here."

One of the police officers chuckled loudly, "Of course it was high quality and pointed at that building. That's the Atamatsu Love Hotel. I'll bet if you checked the webcam tonight you'd discover all sorts of suspects, but not for a shooting!"

Kuromaki grinned. "I believe the owner of the webcam decided to shut it down after we educated him on the various penalties for invading the privacy of others. However, thanks to the quality of the equipment he was using we were able to enhance this portion of the video, which I'm sure you've all seen many times on the Internet news programs."

The view closed in on the roof of the hotel when suddenly a helicopter rose up from the far side and zoomed forward missing the air conditioning unit on top of the building by mere inches. As the chopper plunged into the foreground the image zoomed in again for an even tighter shot of the roof. There, under a flapping sheet of camouflage netting was the barrel of a huge rifle, the lens of a massive sniper scope and a tiny head of curly brown hair.

"We have identified the rifle and scope as a model popular with many paramilitary groups throughout Asia. In combination with good tracking software it can be devastatingly lethal at ranges of several thousand meters." The video advanced in slow motion to a point where the gunman looked away from the sniper scope and revealed the face of a young woman.

"We have these images of the gunman, who has been identified by our counterparts in Beijing as having once been a member of a crack PLA sniper squad. She left the PLA after only one tour of duty and her identity papers have since turned out to be forgeries. About the only thing we do know is she comes from a mountainous province near the Tibetan border."

One of the detectives in the middle of the room raised his hand. "Excuse me, Detective Kuromaki. Could this woman have been a member of the Black Rose Security Force?"

"No, the head of that group…" Kuromaki consulted her handheld databook. "Kodachi Kuno, has confirmed she only hires Japanese women with martial arts gymnastic experience. Oh, you should all be aware Ms. Kuno has been cleared of all charges related to the invasion of her father's estate. She contends she was only trying to protect her brother when she drugged him, stuffed him in a body bag and had him airlifted to the top of the new roller coaster at Toshimaen amusement park."

"Kinda makes me glad I'm an only child," the police captain said with a big grin. He stepped up and tapped his finger on the image of the curly haired woman. "Listen up people! I want this Chinese assassin found as soon as possible. Download these images into your databooks and don't leave a single rock unturned. She is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous, so be careful out there."

o o o

Russell Vogel sat cross-legged in front of a small open campfire. All around him the night air was filled with the sound of crickets and owls hooting in the distance. Above him the sky was filled with a million blazing stars. Somewhere in the distance a lone coyote howled at the moon just beginning to rise full and bright in the east.

Russell tried to tune out all these distractions as he gazed intently at the bed of red-hot coals and the twenty-four chestnuts resting among them.

"I can do this," he said quietly to himself. "I just need to concentrate and focus."

He tried to regulate his breathing and wished he could stop his heart from pounding so loudly in his chest. He held up his right hand and tried hard to make it stop shaking. He had to pass this test, had to become faster, more precise, and less prone to distraction. Failure was no longer an option. 'She' was coming back to America.

Placing his hands gently on the small oriental brass urn at his feet, he prepared to snatch the chestnuts from the fire. An easy enough task, but if he failed to do it properly or to remove all the nuts in under two seconds the result might be painful.

At last he felt ready. He gathered his ki energy and focused it all into his fingertips. Then in a burst of motion he reached into the fire and grabbed the first chestnuts. One after another the nuts dropped into the little urn making a noise like machine gun fire. His focus was complete, his technique flawless and his hands a blur before his own eyes.

Then he tried to pick up the last two nuts at the same time. Even though they were both right next to one another they dropped from his fingertips as his hand raced away from the burning coals. He watched them dancing away from him so he reached out with his other hand to gather them back up before they fell from the fire.

He only caught one and the mistake cost him dearly. A burning pain suddenly coursed through his hand and up his arm. Involuntarily he jerked away from the searing heat as a loud buzzing noise interrupted the delicate background song of the crickets. Russell sat waving his stinging hand in the air as large green letters appeared above the campfire.

Simulation Completed  
Targets remaining: 1  
Elapse time: 2.0045 sec.

"Damn!" Russell tore the virtual-reality helmet from his head and tossed it violently into the corner of the practice room. He continued to swear as he peeled the sensor glove from his hand. Then he began sucking on the spot reddened by the electric shock from the feedback mechanism.

A middle-aged man with broad shoulders, graying hair and a black belt around his waist walked over and picked up the VR helmet. "You know, Russ, this isn't some Nintendo game. This is expensive equipment and you shouldn't be throwing it around like that."

Russell took his hand from his mouth just long enough to apologize. "I'm sorry, sensei. I didn't think it would hurt this much."

The instructor bent over and looked at the console as he set the helmet down on top of the simulator. "No wonder it hurt! You've got the feedback set to maximum. You're lucky you didn't get burned for real. And trying to grab twenty-four chestnuts in two seconds, do you have a death wish or something?"

"I'm not fast enough."

"Russell, you're the fastest man in the tri-states region. Heck, you're probably the fastest in the country by now. You're pushing yourself too hard. You've doubled your speed over the last year, what more do you want?"

"I'm still not as fast as Ranko-sensei."

"Well duh! She's Master Ranma's sister. She'd be a master herself if she'd only claim the title. What makes you think you can be faster than she is anyway?"

Russell stopped sucking on his hand and stood up. He pealed off the other glove and set them next to the VR helmet. "I don't want to be faster than Ranko-sensei. I just don't want to disappoint her when she comes to test me."

"What makes you think she's coming here to test you? The e-mail just said Master Ranma was making a personal appearance. It didn't mention his sister at all. Anyway, Ranko-sensei just had a baby. She won't be jetting across the country with a newborn in tow. Take it from a father of three."

"She'll be here." Russell looked across the practice hall to the huge poster of Ranko Saotome. Below it, on a small shelf draped with a white silk scarf, was a single cinder block. Before his very eyes a perfectly round hole had been blasted through it by a swirling mass of hot and cold ki energy. "She promised."

The instructor patted the young man on the back. "Don't get your hopes up, Russ. Hey, how about a little sparring to help loosen you up?"

"What time is it?"

"Almost five o'clock."

"Oh no, I've gotta leave or I'll be late for class and I can't miss tonight. We've got a test on conjugating class two verbs."

"You taking a writing class?"

"Of course not," Russell said as he headed for the locker room. "I'm learning Japanese!"

o o o

"Ranma!" Akane's shout resounded through the house like a banshee's war cry. "Raaan-maaa!"

"I swear that woman's voice would drown out a typhoon." Ranma stuffed another stack of baby clothes into the suitcase he was packing and then turned for the door.

"We could use her out on the farm for calling in the hogs." Ryouga sat in the rocking chair with a tiny bundle in his arms. Next to him a similarly sized bundle lay asleep in the crib.

"I'll trade you one loud wife for one adorable baby boy."

"No way, I've got plans for this little piglet."

"Don't even joke about that, Ryouga. Trust me, that is one trauma you _don't_ want to go through!" Ranma moved out into the hall and shouted down the stairs, "What is it, Akane?"

His wife appeared at the bottom of the staircase. "The van's here to take the luggage to the airport."

"Okay, I'll be done in a couple of minutes. Did the boys finish packing?"

"If you mean did they manage to stuff every toy they own into two suitcases, yes."

Ranma smiled. "That's my boys. They'll have to tramp all the way across America half naked, but at least they'll be entertained"

"Not a chance." Akane grinned, "I packed their real cases last night."

"No man stands a chance against you, Tendo."

"They never did." Akane winked up at her husband and headed out of sight towards the genkan.

Ranma chuckled and stepped back into the nursery. "Akane says the airport delivery service is here. I've gotta get this last bag packed and take it downstairs."

"I'm sorry, Ranma," Ryouga said with a pensive look. "I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject. I know it's really rotten luck that Ranko-chan ended up with your curse. Akari and I are so lucky little Butaro is normal…"

"Huh? That's not a sore subject. Besides, we're not really sure it's the curse. She doesn't change in reaction to water or anything. Akane seems to think it has to do with how much time I spend in male mode."

"Really?" Ryouga glanced into the crib where a shock of red hair was just visible under the light blanket covering Ranma and Akane's daughter.

"That's her theory, but once Ranko-chan changed into a boy while I was in the middle of breastfeeding her. So I don't really see how it can have anything to do with me being a guy."

"You know, it sounds really weird when you say things like that, Ranma. I watch Akari feeding Butaro and I just can't imagine what its like."

"It hurts, but in a nice way." Ranma grinned as he closed the suitcase and pressed down on the top to get it latched. He hoisted the large case off the changing table and balanced it easily on his shoulder. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's on formula now, but I'm a little sad because I'll never have her that close to me again. It all goes by so fast, that's why I want to take her with me to America. I can't stand to miss even a single day."

"It does go by fast, doesn't it? It wasn't all that long ago you were stealing my bread at middle school. Now we're both parents with families to care for."

"Good grief! You make us sound like a couple of old geezers!" Ranma said as he slipped out the door with the suitcase. A moment later he poked his head back in. "Besides, I never _stole_ your bread, you were just too slow to get to it before I did."

Then the father of three, mother of one, owner of two successful international businesses and recognized Master of the Art of Anything Goes Martial Arts stuck out his tongue while pulling at his lower eyelid with an index finger.

Ryouga shook his head and slowly stood up from the rocking chair. With a chuckle he leaned over the crib and settled his son down next to his best friend's little girl. He covered them both with the same blanket and then stretched his massive arms above his head.

"Ranko-chan, you have the world's most exasperating father."

Walking over to the open window, Ryouga waited until Ranma appeared in the courtyard below carrying several additional suitcases before he hopped up on the windowsill, laughed loudly and shouted, "Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"

o o o

"At this time Japan Airlines would like to welcome our pre-boarding passengers for flight zero-zero-nine, non-stop service to Los Angeles. This includes anyone holding a pre-boarding pass, those traveling with small children and any children under the age of twelve who are traveling alone today."

"Okay, boys. Pick up your backpacks it's time to get on the airplane." Ranma shifted Ranko-chan in the carry-sack he was wearing across his chest so he could bend down and pick up her diaper bag. They were standing in a separate line at the second of four gates used for boarding this one trans-Pacific flight. Just beyond the rope barrier a couple of hundred men and women in business suits stared at them.

"You have all the tickets, right?" Akane anxiously searched the carry on bags she was toting for the folder containing their boarding pass.

"Relax, Akane, its right here. Remember, I do this all the time." Ranma reached into a side pocket of the diaper bag and pulled out a white and red JAL envelope. "But this is the first time I've been in a pre-boarding group. It's kinda nice."

Herding the twins in front of him, Ranma edged past his nervous wife and handed the boarding pass to the gate attendant. Akane wasn't normally this anxious about flying. The few times they had flown down to Okinawa on vacation she'd never acted like this.

The attendant removed a credit card sized boarding pass from the jacket and passed it over the keyboard of her computer. The screen lit up with five little windows containing a photograph and information about each of them. "Welcome back to JAL, Mr. Saotome. It's been quite some time since you've flown with us."

Ranma patted Ranko-chan on the rump. "I've been busy."

"So I can see. And who are these two handsome young gentlemen?" The attendant knelt down in front of the twins so that she was on the same level.

"I'm Hideto."

"No you're not! He's Masato and I'm Hideto. You're pretty!"

"Well thank you for the compliment. Now you'd better figure out who's who because the scanner always knows who's lying." The attendant held out a small black box attached by a long coiled cable to the computer. "Do you know what this is?"

Both boys' hands shot into the air, but it was Masato who spoke first. "You're gonna take…"

"…our fingerprints." Hideto finished and held out his index finger. The attendant let him put his finger on the scanner and there was a friendly beep from the computer.

Looking up at the screen she said, "Looks like you were Hideto Saotome after all. Now, how about you?"

Masato stuck his finger on the scanner and a similar beep sounded. Ranma glanced at the computer screen and saw big green check marks next to his sons' pictures. The attendant stood up and Ranma coughed. That was enough to remind the boys to bow and thank the attendant.

"They're adorable, Mr. Saotome." She held out the scanner for Ranma's finger.

"Yeah, would you like to keep them for the summer?" He chuckled as the screen beeped and another big check mark appeared next to his own picture.

"Can I assume this strangely shaped piece of carry on baggage is Miss Ranko Saotome?"

Involuntarily Ranma glanced down to make sure the peach fuzz he'd been stroking all the while was still red. "Yup, the one and only."

"Oh? I thought Ranko was also your sister's name."

"Not really. Ranko is my sister's nickname. Her real name is Ranma, just like me but spelled differently."

"Really? How unusual. As often as the two of you travel with us, I'd never noticed. Excuse me, Mrs. Saotome?" The attendant reached past Ranma and held the scanner out to Akane.

"Huh? What's that?" Akane seemed to be having trouble juggling their carry on bags by herself.

"On international flights you have to let them scan your finger before you can get on the plane, Akane. Here, let me take one of those bags." Ranma held out his hand and Akane started to hand him the bag in her left hand. "Other hand, sweetheart."

As Ranma took the bag and moved towards the jetway, Akane stepped up and held out her finger. "I'm sorry, this is my first time flying overseas."

"No problem, Mrs. Saotome, and perfectly understandable what with the new baby and all. How old is she?"

"Just eighteen weeks." There was a nice loud friendly beep as the scanner confirmed Akane was the same person as the passport on file with the airline.

"I've always heard the second pregnancy is easier than the first. Is that true?"

Akane thought for a moment and then glanced over at Ranma standing with the boys. "To tell you the truth, this pregnancy was much harder on me than the first."

"Really? Well I hope you have a pleasant flight and a nice vacation in America. Your seats are on the second level in business class." The attendant handed Akane their pass and turned to take the next passenger's card.

"And just what was so hard on you during _my_ pregnancy?" Ranma asked his spouse as the family headed down the jetway.

"Well I was kidnapped and held hostage for three days. I had to put up with your constant whining about being stuck as a woman for sixteen months. Then there was that time…"

"Oh never mind."

Business class on a JAL Boeing 797 consisted of the entire second floor not used up by the first class cabins. Originally designed to carry one thousand passengers, the massive airliner in this configuration only held seven hundred and ninety seven. A factoid which must have amused some JAL executives and left designers at Boeing scratching their heads about how to arrange an odd number of seats.

Akane got the twins settled in on the right hand side of the plane while Ranma strapped Ranko-chan into the infant carrier the airline had already installed for them in the center seat of the three that made up the middle row. The seven across arrangement made for wide comfortable seating compared to the four rows of three seats each in economy class one level below.

The rest of the passengers were beginning to file in just as Ranma and Akane settled into their own seats at last. Ranma noticed his wife was still grinding her teeth over something. "What's the matter, Akane? You're all tense today."

"I just can't get over the feeling that this was a big mistake. A thirteen hour flight with an eighteen week old baby just seems to have disaster written all over it."

"You're just a worry wart, Tendo. Ranko-chan slept all the way here on the train. She went right back to sleep after we fed her at the station. Now look at her, sound asleep and as comfortable as a bug in a rug. I'll feed her again half way to Los Angeles and there's even a baby changing room on this behemoth. If you're going to worry about anything, just hope that the boys don't get too bored."

"I just hope you're right, Ranma."

As the two hundred or so other business class passengers settled into their seats around them, the screens in the seat backs lit up with the standard safety lecture repeated in five different languages. When a low rumble shook the cabin, Akane jumped in her seat.

"What's that?"

"That's just the sound of the engines starting up. Nothing to be worried about."

As the low rumble grew to an insistent whine, neither Ranma nor Akane noticed Ranko-chan's eyes pop open. She looked frantically around, taking in her strange surroundings and finally locating both of her mothers sitting beside her. Then, as the noise grew louder, her brilliant blue eyes turned a dark golden brown.

x x x

Author's Notes:

(1) yakuza – the generic name for organized crime in Japan, similar to the term mafia in the west.

(2) genkan – the sunken entrance to a Japanese home where guests remove their shoes before entering.

(3) Butaro – literally means 'pig's son'. I know it's cruel, but what else would Ryouga and his hog loving wife call their son?


	3. Chapter 2 – Los Angeles

_I know it's been a long time folks and I apologize, but real life demands on my time have continued__ to keep me from my writing. Hopefully this big chunk of the story will help to make up for the delay. I hope you like it._**  
**

**Chapter Two  
Los Angeles**

It was a scene taken straight from the pages of any war correspondent's blog. The desperate mother standing alone with two frightened children clinging to her legs, an infant held protectively in her arms and a look of weary defiance on her face. The dark circles below her unfocused gaze gave her the look of someone much older than she really was. Her eyes spoke volumes about the carnage and mayhem they had so recently been witness to.

A group of men in business suits approached and the woman heaved a weary sigh. The men's icy hateful stares bore into the huddled little family, driving the children further into the protective shadow of their mother's skirt. The woman clutched her baby defensively to her breast as she bowed apologetically to the passing group.

Yes, it was a scene right at home in any of the war torn third-world countries around the globe. That it was playing itself out in front of the lady's washroom of the LAX pre-customs waiting area only added to Akane's mounting anger.

"How long does it take to splash some hot water on your face and get back out here?"

"Mom?" Hideto said from his hiding place behind her left knee. "Does everyone in America hate us now?"

"No, sweetheart. America doesn't hate us, but I'm not so sure about the business community in Japan."

No sooner had the jet's engines revved up for takeoff when Ranko-chan began crying. He continued to cry until they reached cruising altitude, where the flight attendants assured them he would settle down. If anything, reaching forty thousand feet only brought new life to the baby's wailing.

He cried throughout the dinner service and refused to take his bottle until, in desperation, Ranma went to the lavatory and returned in female form. That would normally have caused quite a stir, but no one was willing to question the presence of someone able to bring quiet to the cabin.

Too bad it lasted all of fifteen minutes. As soon as his bottle was empty Ranko-chan began shrieking again. Many of the nearby passengers actually applauded when Ranma took the baby to the bathroom for a diaper change.

It was in that moment of blessed silence when the twins, heretofore absorbed with the airliner's extensive collection of old video games, finally got tired of the boring wired controllers and decided to go exploring. Akane didn't even notice they were missing until she heard a flight attendant scream.

Rushing forward, apologizing to the heads popping out of first class cabins as she ran, Akane searched for her boys. She finally found Masato using a food tray as a surfboard to ride the handrail of the circular staircase between the upper and lower decks of first class.

Elsewhere Hideto had sniffed out a stash of fresh baked cookies from the business class galley and was merrily passing them out to all the children in economy. Like the pied piper, he was soon leading an army of sugar jazzed children on an assault of the first class lounge. Intent on visiting the cockpit, the mob of pre-teens was only halted by the appearance of a redheaded Japanese woman carrying a screaming infant.

And so it went for the entire thirteen hour flight. Ranko-chan continued to cry the whole time. Just when he seemed to be wearing out his eyes flashed to blue and _she_ suddenly seemed find new energy. The twins remained bored and only saw the other passenger's attempts at sleeping as a further opportunity for exploration. By the time the plane rolled up to the gate in Los Angeles, Akane and Ranma were well beyond the end of their ropes.

The rest of the passengers must have been contemplating what they might do with those ropes. At least that was Akane's impression from the looks they received coming off the plane. It didn't help matters one bit when Ranko-chan went to sleep the very second the airplane rolled to a stop.

"Okay," Ranma said while rubbing his hands dry. "I'm ready for customs now."

"What took you so long?" Akane was clearly mad as she thrust Ranko-chan into her husband's arms.

"The American's are pretty thorough these days. They sometimes do random body searches and I didn't want to get caught wearing a bra."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't want _you_ to be embarrassed, even if your children did have to stand out here the whole time being publicly humiliated."

"You're exaggerating things, Akane. I know it was bad, but it's not like everyone on the airplane is mad at us."

"Ranma, have you been watching the people walking by? If looks could kill I'd be introducing you to my mother's ghost right now."

Just then three more passengers came down the passageway towards them. The two men in business suits shot them withering glances, but the gorgeous Japanese woman with the short cropped hair smiled and nodded as she passed by.

Ranma continued to follow her with his gaze as he said, "See, that woman didn't look upset."

"Honestly, Ranma!" Akane jabbed a fist into his ribs just hard enough to get his attention without dislodging the baby from his grasp. "This is serious, what are we going to do? We'll be lucky if they let us back on the plane to go home, much less fly all over the United States with her screaming the whole time."

Ranma massaged his aching ribcage with one hand while clutching the sleeping baby close to his shoulder with the other. "Take it easy, Akane. I'll think of something."

o o o

"Konnichiwa. Pasupooto, onagai shimasu" Ken Philips wasn't Japanese. He wasn't Chinese or Korean either, but eleven years with the Emigration Service in Los Angeles had given him the ability to ask for someone's passport like any Pacific Rim native.

"Good afternoon, officer. I speak English."

Ken looked up and nearly dropped the red jacketed passport the woman had just put in the tray. Tall for a Japanese, she had huge dark eyes rendered all the larger looking by her short black hair. Not for the first time, Ken cursed the thick bulletproof glass separating him from a clearer view of this Asian beauty.

He slipped the passport into the reader and waited for her identity data to appear on his screen. When he saw what it said he did a double take.

"Uh… _Detective_ Kuromaki? Are you here for business or pleasure?"

"I'm on assignment, if that's what you mean."

"Yes… of course… that's what I meant." Ken couldn't help thinking this was the sexiest woman he'd ever let into the country. And he'd checked through a lot of celebrities in his day. "Please stand with your toes on the blue line and place your right hand on the scanner. We'll have your biometric data confirmed in just a moment."

"Certainly. Can you tell me where to pick up my _special_ bags?"

"Huh? Oh, are you bringing in weapons? You'll need to go to the FBI field office after you've picked up your other luggage. Just ask any TSA officer at baggage claim how to get there."

"Thank you," Kuromaki said after retrieving her passport. "Oh yes. There will be a rather haggard looking Japanese family coming through the business class line soon. I would consider it a personal favor if you made sure they didn't leave the airport until I've finished with the FBI."

Ken swallowed hard and twisted his wedding band nervously under the counter. "Uh… sure thing, detective, take your time."

o o o

"_You see, Akane,_" Ranma said as he piled their bags on a luggage cart. "_I told you they sometimes do random body searches, happens all the time. Nothing to be ashamed of really, so just get over it already._"

"_Doesn't it bother you in the least that your wife was just strip searched by a six foot tall black woman with ice cold hands?_"

"_She was wearing rubber gloves, wasn't she?_"

"_That's not the point, Ranma… Hideto, where's your brother?_"

"_I'm right here, mom._" Masato was just rounding the corner on the luggage conveyor. "_Did you know there are people speaking Spanish on the other side of the wall?_"

"_Masato! Get off of that thing this instant!_"

"_Calm down, Akane. Come on, kiddo,_" Ranma said as he pulled his son off the conveyor and dropped him on the cart with the other baggage. "_This isn't an amusement park ride._"

"_Daddy, there's someone over there holding a sign with our name on it._" Hideto pointed to the crowds just beyond the security exit.

"_That'll be the limo driver._" Ranma hoisted the last of their bags onto the cart while Akane pulled Masato off of it by his ear.

"_But it's a girl!_"

"_Women can drive cars just as well as men do,_" Akane scolded. She didn't want her boys growing up with the typical Japanese male's chauvinism, but secretly she would have been happier if the driver had been a man.

"_There's a man in a suit waving at us too._" Hideto started to wave his arm in the air only to have Akane grab it.

"_Stop that! You have no idea who that man is. This is America, we have to be careful._"

"_Hey, it's Jeff and his assistant Kelly!_" Ranma waved his arm and began pushing the cart toward the exit.

Akane looked down at the twins and blushed. "_Hey guys, I know I'm overreacting a little, but you really do need to be more careful about talking to strangers over here. Okay?_"

"_Okay, mom!_" The twins shouted in unison and then raced off after their father.

Akane stroked Ranko-chan's soft red hair. "_I guess I owe you an apology too, sweetheart._" She kissed her daughter on the top of the head and fell into step behind Ranma and the boys.

By the time she caught up with them Ranma was shaking Jeff's hand vigorously and speaking to him in English. "Why you come here? All we need is driver."

"And miss out on the chance to be the first man in America to meet the next generation of Saotomes? No way!"

"Well here they are. This my son Masato and this Hideto. Boys, this Jeffu, my partner in America."

The boys bowed formally to the tall man, but he quickly stopped them. "No, no, no. None of that bowing stuff over here unless you're in a dojo. You don't want people thinking you're un-cool."

The boys looked first to their father, who nodded his approval, and then to their mother who just shrugged her shoulders. They looked back at Jeff with smiles on their faces.

The big man knelt down and held up his right hand, thumb and pinky finger extended while the others were curled against his palm. Jeff rocked his hand from side to side and said, "Welcome to America, dudes!"

The twins looked at one another and giggled. They mimicked Jeff's hand signal while chanting in unison, "Okay, dude!"

Ranma shook his head and turned to the pretty redhead standing beside Jeff. In Japanese he said, "_Good afternoon, Kelly-san. Please meet my sons. Boys, this is Jeff's assistant, Kelly._"

In nearly flawless Japanese the redhead said, "_It is a pleasure to meet you Maseto-kun and Hideto-kun. Let's be kind to one another._" Kelly bowed low to the boys and their jaws dropped.

"_Are you Japanese?_" Masato asked in awe.

"_You've got red hair just like dad…_" Hideto was cut short by his brother.

"_He means like Aunt Ranko._" Masato said while giving the younger twin a smug look.

Kelly just smiled and shook her head. "_My family is Irish. I just learned Japanese recently._"

Then she looked up at Ranma and Akane couldn't miss the twinkle in the young woman's eyes… she knew who Ranko really was! Kelly was every bit as sharp as Ranma said she was and Akane smiled in appreciation of the girl's discretion. "_You speak our language very well. You must have studied very hard._"

"_You flatter me, Saotome-sama._" Kelley bowed again. "_I am not very good at all._"

Akane returned the bow by nodding her head, careful not to let Ranko-chan shift too much and wake up. "_You also understand Japanese etiquette. You are a rare treasure, Kelly-san. Please call me Akane._"

"Would somebody please start speaking English again?" Jeff shouted in mock frustration. "I feel like I'm the one who just got off the plane. This is Los Angeles, people."

"Sorry, Jeff," Akane said switching to English. "It's just so nice to hear a friendly Japanese voice after all we've been through."

"Oh?" Jeff's face suddenly fell into seriousness. "Rough flight?"

Five blank Asian faces stared back at him, two exhausted adults and two identically guilty little ones. The fifth yawned innocently in Akane's arms. Nobody spoke for several awkward moments.

"Um… well, we have small problem in flight." Ranma said with a sidelong glance at his wife.

"What he means, Jeff," Akane said with a sigh, "is Ranko-chan cried all the way from Tokyo."

"Is she all right? Was she sick or something?"

"Ranko-chan fine," Ranma said pulling the blanket away from the baby's face so the Americans could get their first good look at her.

"She doesn't like the sound of the engines. We tried everything. Ranma even…" Akane glanced at Kelly, who nodded knowingly. "Even Ranko-chan's mother couldn't stop her from crying. I don't know what we're going to do, Jeff. We can't go flying all over the country with her like this. We'll be banned from every airline for sure."

"It can't be as bad as all that. I've been on planes with crying babies before. People don't like it, but you don't get banned from flying for…"

Jeff stopped talking when he saw the twins' faces. They looked like two condemned prisoners about to hear the judge sentence them to life.

"We have… other problem too," Ranma said sternly.

"Oh, I see." Jeff stared down at the boys and tried not to laugh as he saw the mischievous looks they were giving him even as they bowed in shame. "Well, I'm sure we can figure something out. Maybe we can hire a private jet."

"Trip already cost too much, Jeffu. We here to make dojo profitable again, not to spend money on private jet."

Jeff looked at Kelly who shrugged her shoulders. "We'll think of something, but right now you guys look exhausted. Let's get you settled into the hotel and we can put our heads together later. The first demo is day after tomorrow in Seattle and I need the Master here to be bright eyed and full of energy by then."

He crouched down and pointed to the boys. "That includes you two as well. I've got tickets for a Mariner's game against Los Angeles and I need you guys to help me root for the home team. Think you can handle that?"

"Yeah!" the twins shouted together.

Jeff grinned and straightened up. "I'll go bring the van around. You guys don't mind riding in one of the company buses, do you?"

"That fine, Jeffu. I go with you. Akane, you mind staying here and watch luggage?"

"No, go ahead. Take the boys with you so they don't get bored again."

When all the men were gone, Akane turned to Kelly and asked in Japanese, "_So, how long have you known about Ranma's curse?_"

"_Since the first trip I booked for him. Both he and Ranko-sama appeared at the demo, but only one of them flew in from Japan. I didn't learn about the cold water until several months later._"

"_How come you never told him you know about it?_"

Kelly smiled demurely and said "_Saotome Ranma-sama never asked me._"

Akane grinned. "_Are you sure you're not Japanese?_"

The two women laughed and Ranko-chan came alive in Akane's arms. She opened her eyes and blinked at the bright lights of the terminal building. Kelly leaned over for a closer look and the baby reached out toward the redhead.

Kelly shook her head and rubbed Ranko-chan under the chin. "_Oh no, don't let the hair fool you. I'm not your mama._" Then looking up at Akane she said, "_It's hard to believe such a sweet little baby could cause such a commotion._"

"_She has her moments, but generally she's not at all fussy. She doesn't mind riding on the train or in the car. It's just airplanes that seem to upset her._"

"_She likes to ride in the car?_"

"_Oh yes. On those nights when she just won't go to sleep, Ranma takes her for a ride in the van and she falls right off._"

"Really?" Kelly said switching to English and straightening up. "Have you ever taken her on a long car trip?"

"Well, some nights Ranma doesn't come back until daybreak. He says she starts crying whenever he stops at a traffic light, so he gets on one of the expressways and just drives out into the countryside."

"You know," Kelly's eyes were alight with a playful expression. "There might just be a way to salvage this trip for you after all."

"_Really?_"

o o o

Ranma knew he was being a killjoy, but he couldn't help it. Here he sat in the visiting owner's skybox of Safeco Field watching a reasonable well matched baseball game between the two major league teams with the most Japanese players on them and yet he couldn't stop worrying. Meanwhile, two rows in front of him, Jeff and the boys were having a great time.

Jeff suddenly stood up, leaned out the open window and shouted down at the field, "Knock it out of the park, Nakajima!"

Masato and Hideto stood up too and began chanting, "Fighto! Fighto! Fighto!"

Ranma doubted any of that could be heard down on the field, but seconds later there was the crack of a bat squarely hitting a baseball and the combined cheers and groans of the home crowd watching a Dodger homerun sail over the fence.

"Yeah!" Jeff shouted as he held out his hands palms up to receive two victory slaps from the boys. Ranma wondered at the quick turnaround in his sons' team affiliations. At home they were staunch Mariners fans, but Jeff had quickly converted them to the Dodgers camp. The pre-game meet-and-greet with the whole team had gone a long way towards their conversion he was sure.

"Did you see that, Ranma? We're up by two runs and the top of the batting order's on deck."

Ranma smiled and gave his friend a thumbs-up. Jeff had almost stopped trying to get him involved in the game around the fifth inning, but it wasn't in the big man's nature to give up entirely. Ranma took the opportunity to glance at his wristwatch, it was now ten hours and twenty-three minutes since he'd last held Ranko-chan and there was probably another five hours or so to go before he would see his baby again.

The day started early when Jeff picked him and the boys up at the hotel before dawn. The flight up to Seattle was quick and uneventful, something Ranma thanked the gods for. While the turnout for the demo hadn't been large, maybe two hundred people tops, it was mostly kids and Ranma always enjoyed performing for children more than anything.

He'd gotten the twins into the act by letting them show off some of the aerial combat techniques he'd been teaching them for the last few months. They'd become instant celebrities and when he went off to meet with some of the new franchise owners from Washington and Oregon, the boys organized a game of martial arts tag that had boys and girls bouncing off the dojo walls for an hour.

It felt good to be using his skills again and for a while thoughts of Ranko-chan and the problems they'd had on the flight were pushed out of his mind. But when the meetings were over and the boys corralled back into a limo for the ride to the ballpark his thoughts turned to his little girl and what they were going to do with her for the next four weeks. Akane had offered to stay with her in Los Angeles, but Ranma knew he'd never be able to finish the tour without both of his girls along.

Damn his female half anyway! He should be watching this game, enjoying the time with his boys, bonding with his good friend who he hadn't seen for a year, but instead he was suffering separation anxiety welling up from the woman deep within himself.

"_She needs you,_" the redhead chided him. "_You're Ranko-chan's mother._"

"_No I'm not. You are, so leave me alone._"

"_Can't happen, big guy. This isn't a split personality disorder. You embraced being a woman, now you're stuck with it._" He could practically hear her giggling in his head. "_Mama no baka._"

Ranma closed his eyes and tried to wash those thoughts from his brain. "_Get your mind off of womanly things, Saotome. Think about baseball, two teams of manly men facing each other in manly competition…_"

"_The ace pitcher of the Atlanta Braves is a woman you know._"

"Chikusho!"

The twins looked up at their father with wide eyes. He waved them off with a gesture that said, 'You didn't hear daddy say that and don't tell your mother I did.' They grinned at him and turned back to the game. He really needed to relax, get a grip and deal with this in some way more productive than arguing with himself.

"Excuse me, Mr. Saotome?"

Ranma looked over at the man sitting to his right. They'd been introduced earlier, but all he could remember was the man worked for Google and somehow represented the owners of the Dodgers.

"I couldn't help noticing you're a bit distracted and that you were trying to use your phone earlier. I'm sorry they don't work so well up here, it's not our stadium you see, but if you need to make a phone call there's a communications center just behind the press box. Tell them you're with us and they can put you through to anyone."

"Oh no, that okay…" then he thought about it for a second. What would it hurt to just call Akane and make sure everything was all right? By the time they got home Ranko-chan would probably be asleep. He wouldn't want to wake her up because she'd just started sleeping through the night. "Well, if you not mind."

"Of course not, Mr. Saotome, please help yourself."

Akane had made plans to go shopping with Kelly. If he couldn't get through to the rental phone his wife was carrying, he'd surely be able to reach Jeff's assistant. He stood up and reached forward to tap Jeff on the shoulder.

"Jeffu, I go make phone call. You need tell Kelly anything?"

"No boss," the blonde American said with a big game winning smile on his face. "It's her day off. Besides I can never 'tell' Kelly anything, she always knows about it before I do."

Ranma chuckled and headed for the door. Outside in the cavernous passageway behind the stands he turned left towards the Press Box they'd been shown through before the game. As the man from Google had promised, just a short way down from that was a door marked 'Media Communications, Authorized Personnel Only'. He pressed the button on the intercom mounted next to the door and waited.

The door opened a few seconds later and a young man with long curly hair and a baseball cap with 'ESPN' printed in red across the front stuck out his head.

"Yes? The bathrooms are down the other way."

"Not need bathroom, need telephone. Man from Google say…"

"Holy crap!" No sooner had Ranma begun to speak when the young man shouted and let the door slam in his face. Ranma winced. He knew Americans could be rude at times, but this was worse than most times. He was contemplating whether to ring the bell again and complain or just go back to the skybox and forget about calling Akane when the door opened again.

"I swear it's him, Mr. Eckles. Looks just like his sister too, right down to the silk shirt and black pants. See…"

"Then why didn't you invite him in, you moron?"

Pushing his way past the curly haired kid was a familiar looking middle-aged man in a black leather jacket with the word 'Director' stitched on the breast pocket. It took Ranma only a few seconds to recognize the television director who'd interviewed him last year in New York. It took a few more seconds for him to realize _he_ wasn't supposed to know who the guy was.

"I apologize for my assistant," the man said extending his hand towards Ranma in greeting. "Are you Ranko Saotome's brother?"

"Yes, Ranma Saotome. You are?" He suppressed a grin as he took the man's hand. They'd spent nearly two hours together in New York, but at the time Ranma had been wearing a slinky red cocktail dress, heels, makeup and was eight weeks pregnant. The interview they taped that night had been responsible for making Anything Goes Martial Arts a household name in America for the few short weeks it aired on cable sports channels.

"I'm Jack Eckles. I interviewed your sister last year. Perhaps you had a chance to see it?"

"Oh yes, Ranko send file. I watch on sat-phone in Nepal." Ranma was becoming quite adept at explaining his eighteen month absence from the world while his female half was pregnant with Ranko-chan. "Thank you for kindness to my sister."

"It was my pleasure. Is your sister with you?" The man looked over Ranma's shoulder as if he expected to see the petite redhead standing somewhere just down the hallway.

"Ranko… not in Seattle. I here with sons to give demo and come to ballgame."

"A demo? Here in Seattle, when?"

"Already do this afternoon. Fly back to LA tonight then San Diego tomorrow."

"Oh, so you're not just visiting?"

"No, give demos all over America. At least that was plan."

"Then you're on tour? Um… I'd love a chance to interview you about it. If you don't mind my asking, what time is your flight?"

"Interview for sport news?" That would certainly be good publicity for the company. "Flight this evening, I might have time."

"Great! I can squeeze you in while I'm waiting for the player interviews. How can I find you after the game?"

"In Dodger skybox. Look for little twin boys. I weary looking parent sit nearby."

The other man chuckled and then turned back to his assistant. "Eddie, didn't your resume say something about an internship with Tokyo Broadcasting?"

"Yes, sir!" the young man acknowledged with obvious pride.

"Then you ought to know the proper way to apologize to Mr. Saotome here. Once you're done groveling, head down and tell Murphy to set up somewhere other than the locker room. I want this to look like it was filmed earlier in the day, so find someplace indoors. He's wearing red so we can chromakey some window light on the backdrop. Don't just stand there, move it!"

The director waved and headed back into the communications center. He acted like a very busy man, but Ranma wondered why he wasn't down in the television trucks. "Why Mr. Eckles not directing baseball game?"

Eddie looked like he couldn't decide whether to simply bow to Ranma or actually get down on all fours the way his boss probably expected him to. Ranma's question gave him a way out of doing either one.

"Oh, Jack's not the director of this game. He's producer of 'Nightly Sports Wrap-up', the number one sports news show on cable. He spends most of the game up here in the Comm center talking to camera crews at other games all over the country. Then after the game we move out to the trailer to interview the MVP."

"Really? Why you think he want interview me? So much baseball this time of year I think he too busy for martial arts story."

"Are you kidding? There's been nothing to air but baseball since June. By August everyone around here is sick of it. Jack'd sell his mother for something out of the ordinary right now. Why do you think your sister's story was so big this time last year?"

Ranma hadn't thought about it before. The attention focused on his foiling of an armed robbery had seemed way out of proportion at the time, but he'd been too caught up in the media frenzy to wonder why. "I see, my story standout even if not really news. We help each other out that way. Oh, I come here to make phone call. Is okay?"

"A phone call? Sure! We've got nothing but phones in here. Just find any empty cube and dial nine for an outside line." The young man held the door and stepped aside to let Ranma through.

"Thank you very much. You very helpful, but I give one piece of advice?"

"Oh sure, Mr. Saotome! What's that?"

"When boss tell you apologize someone, do first thing. Otherwise client pissed off and you end up apologize boss because he not get interview he want. Understand?"

The blood drained from the kid's face and he swallowed hard. That thought sunk in for a moment and then he fell to his knees, hands on the floor repeating over and over again in badly accented Japanese, "_I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm…_"

Ranma grinned before turning away. He wished young Japanese were that willing to apologize. Not that his generation had been much better at it, but these days the average kid in Tokyo could be downright rude and get away with it. Thank goodness his boys, as rambunctious as they were, knew how to be polite. Something his mother had a major hand in bringing about.

The communications center was a large room broken up into a couple of dozen individual workspaces by chest high walls. He walked past several cubes occupied by reporters watching the game on monitors and talking into phone handsets. One of the reporters had replaced the handset with headphones and a professional looking microphone.

Ranma found an empty cube and sat down at the small desk. He raised an eyebrow at the monitor showing the game statistics. Not only had the Dodgers failed to add to their lead at the top of the inning, the Mariners now had the bases loaded with only one out.

He took out his cell phone and used it to look up the number before he dialed. Akane picked up on the second ring.

"Hi, sweetheart! Is the game over already?"

"No, bottom of eight inning. Dodger's up by two, but could be in trouble. Pitcher look tired, giving up many bases. Game could go either way."

"Ranma, what's wrong?"

"Nothing wrong. Why you always think something wrong?"

"Because you'd never leave a close game in the eighth inning to make a phone call unless something terrible had happened."

"Nothing terrible happen. Just want to know you and Ranko-chan okay."

"We're fine, Ranma. Ranko-chan's body clock is still on Tokyo time, so she's been asleep all day. She got a little fussy when it was time to feed her, but nothing I couldn't handle. Seriously, that's what you called for?"

"Well…" Now he was beginning to feel foolish. He should have known the baby would be sleeping all day. After all she'd been awake most of the night. Ranma was used to jetlag and usually didn't even notice the effects. The boys seemed to be able to sleep anywhere and anytime. Only Akane had mentioned not being able to get to sleep and she'd stayed up with the baby to compensate.

"Well?"

"No, I have other reason. ESPN interview me again. Good publicity for tour if we ever figure out how to get around."

"Oh, Kelly has that all figured out! She was telling me about it today while we were pushing Ranko-chan around the mall. Like we figured the trains in America are nothing like those back home, so they really aren't an option. When she told me what she had in mind I didn't think it would work either, but we rented some old movies and it looks fun."

"Movies? What movies?"

"One called 'Little Miss Sunshine' and another called 'National Lampoon's Vacation'. They're very funny."

"Never see them. What movies have to do with tour?"

"They're about families who take a driving trip across America. Kelly says it used to be popular for whole families to get in the car and be gone for weeks. Then gas prices went above five dollars a gallon and people just stopped doing it."

"Cost fortune in tolls, Akane. More expensive than private jet!"

"No, silly, Kelly says most American highways don't have tolls. That's why they're called _free_ways. She has the whole thing budgeted out and it won't cost us much more than if we flew on commercial airlines. And this way the boys and I can see America close up rather than from thirty thousand feet. What do you say, Ranma? It's that or Ranko-chan and I stay behind."

"I not know, Akane. All Japan only little bigger than California, America is very big place. I have to think about this."

"Well don't think about it so much that you miss the end of the game. Kelly's already looking for a rental car and today I bought a car seat for the baby and boosters for the boys. This is the only answer, Ranma. Trust me, it'll be fun."

o o o

A dark blue Highlander rolled silently down Wilshire Boulevard, its four-wheel hybrid electric motors humming from power it stored up during the drive down from Encino. Considered the last of a dying breed, the Highlander had survived rising gas prices to become one of the few remaining SUVs on the American market, mostly due to its early adoption of hybrid technology.

Now considered a luxury vehicle because of its poor forty mile per gallon mileage rating, in recent years Toyota had lavished its most sophisticated technology on the once utilitarian soccer mom staple. The owner of this particular model, California Celebrity Rentals, had spared no expense to make it the ultimate in comfort and safety.

Special Kevlar door panels rendered it virtually bulletproof. Adjustable liquid crystal window tinting would hide the identity of its occupants under any lighting condition. The advanced navigation system was second to none in accuracy and real-time road condition reporting. And all of its special features were under the control of Toyota's state-of-the-art Anthromorphic Driver Assistance Module. However, none of these things actually mattered to the Saotome family who was leasing the vehicle for the entire month of August.

Waiting under the canopy at the back of the Beverley Wilshire Hotel in the early afternoon heat, Ranma worried more about getting all of their luggage into the car. Akane worried if there would be enough room on the back seat for all three of the children. Hideto and Masato's only worry centered on their Japanese game DVDs playing properly on the seat back monitors. And as far as anyone could tell Ranko-chan wasn't worried about anything. Still mostly on Tokyo time she was, as usual for this time of the night there, sound asleep.

Ranma and Akane knew their fears about the car being big enough for them were unfounded the moment the SUV pulled in off of William Morris Place and came to a stop in front of them.

"It's huge," Akane whispered in wonder, "so much bigger than our van back home."

"Well this is America, everything bigger here."

The doors opened and two young men in matching maroon jogging suits jumped out. While one headed to the rear of the SUV to help the doorman load the luggage, the other approached Ranma with a clipboard. "Good afternoon. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Saotome. My name's Eric. Here's your vehicle, the infant and booster seats have already been installed as you requested. If I can just get you to sign these forms we can go over some of the features…"

"No need demo," Ranma said as he took the clipboard and pen Eric was offering him. "We have car just like this back home."

"_Ranma,_" Akane whispered in Japanese. "_Our van is five years old and looks nothing like this thing!_"

"_Akane, do you think Toyota became the world's largest automaker by building different models for every country? Trust me. This, whatever it is, drives just like our Harrier back home except the steering wheel is on the wrong side._"

Akane rolled her eyes skyward. Ignoring her, Ranma signed the paperwork and returned the clipboard to the confused looking young man. "Not need demo."

"Are you sure, Mr. Saotome? It won't take more than a few minutes."

Ranma waved his hand nonchalantly at the young man as he wandered off to look over the car from stem to stern. Eric shrugged and turned to Akane. "How about you, ma'am?"

"You better show me how the video system in the backseat works. He can waste all the time he wants figuring out how to drive this thing, but if the boys can't get their games to play we're all in big trouble."

Looking much relieved the young man opened the back door and proceeded to show her how to use the A/V system. At the back of the SUV the other young man from the rental company was just pulling the last suitcase off the hotel's baggage cart as Ranma walked up.

"Were rest of luggage?"

"It's all packed, Mr. Saotome. The Highlander has an amazing carrying capacity when the third row of seats is removed."

"Oh, I see." Ranma looked inside at the sea of suitcases and realized they were all there with room to spare. Even all of the baby things neatly fit into the huge compartment. "All look very good. Thank you."

"No problem, Mr Saotome. Enjoy your trip."

Once Ranko-chan was settled into the car seat at the center of the backseat and the twins were strapped into booster seats on either side of her, Ranma walked up to the two young men and held out his hand. They looked at one another uncomfortably and then stared back at Ranma. He knew holding out your hand meant you wanted the car keys in America, he'd seen it done many times in Hollywood movies. Then he remembered something else and snapped his fingers.

"Oh, very sorry, I forget tip." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of twenty dollar bills. After handing one to each young man he once again held out his own hand.

Eric looked at the paltry tip and shook his head in amusement. "Mr. Saotome, this car doesn't have keys. Just introduce yourself and have a nice vacation." With that the two men turned around and disappeared into the hotel.

"What was that all about?" Akane asked.

"I think tip in California should be bigger than tip in New York. Let's go."

Akane climbed into the passenger seat while Ranma walked around to the driver's door. Once inside with his seatbelt fastened he began looking for a way to start the engine, but before he could find anything even remotely resembling a switch the navigation panel in the center of the console lit up. Written across it in red block letters was: "A.D.A.M."

"Good afternoon!" The bright cheerful voice seemed to emanate from every corner of the car. "Are you registered driver number one or number two?"

Ranma looked at Akane and she stared back at him. The voice sounded too natural and inflected with an American accent to be a simple recording. Reflexively they began looking around the car for the source of the sound. In the backseat Hideto broke the silence.

"Who you talking to, mister?"

"I'm addressing the person sitting in the driver's seat of course."

"That's you, dad," Masato said with a grin.

"I know that me," Ranma said as he searched the dashboard for a camera or microphone. He finally gave up and just spoke out loud. "You from rental company?"

"Well, sort of. I'm part of the vehicle actually. I'm the A.D.A.M. unit, but you can just call me Adam if you like. What's your name?"

"Ranma Saotome," he said with a shrug to Akane.

"Very good, that matches registered driver number one. Please read the text now appearing on the navigational console while holding your right thumb over the blinking scanner."

Ranma squinted at the small text which popped up on the screen. It looked like part of a standard car rental agreement. He placed his thumb over the flashing blue circle just below the screen and started reading.

"My name is Ranma Saotome, I am between twenty-five and eighty years of age and I hold a valid drivers license from my country of residence. I have never been convicted of a felony in the state of California, I am not a member of any terrorist organization as defined by the Department of Homeland Security and my valid credit card is on file with California Celebrity Rentals, Inc."

"Excellent, Mr. Saotome! May I call you Ranma?"

"Who are you?" Ranma shouted at the dashboard in frustration. "You call on car phone or something?"

"I thought we settled that already, Mr. Saotome. I'm Adam. I'm your rental car."

"You're the car?" Akane asked stunned.

"Yes miss. I'm a Toyota Highlander with the Anthromorphic Driver Assistance Module, or Adam for short. I control all of the auto's functions and I'm here to help make your driving experience as pleasant and carefree as possible."

"_Our car's a Gundam?_" Masato chimed in excitedly from the back seat.

"_No dummy, a Gundam needs a pilot,_" Hideto chided.

"_That's what daddy is, you baka._" Masato reached across Ranko-chan to take a swipe at his brother.

"Quiet you two," Akane cut the twins off before they could get too wound up. "Ranma, did Jeff tell you about any of this when he rented the car for us?"

"No, he just say this easiest car to drive and big enough for whole family."

"Well what do we do now? Do you have any idea how to program this thing?"

"I don't need to be programmed," Adam responded confidently. "Just tell me were we're going."

Ranma shrugged and said incredulously, "Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas."

After a few seconds a map appeared on the center console and Adam's cheerful voice reverberated through the car again, "Okay, Mr. Saotome, put me in drive, take a right then right again on Wilshire and we're off to Las Vegas!"

o o o

It took Ranma less than one hour with the world's most sophisticated consumer GPS to get completely lost in Los Angeles. His troubles began when Adam told him to turn left on Doheny and he turned right on Oakhurst instead. Time after time the world's greatest martial artist made the wrong turns until finally they found themselves on an expressway heading east.

"Take the exit onto Interstate Five in two miles." Adam said in an encouraging voice.

Stony faced, Ranma continued driving down the middle lane and Akane looked over at him expectantly. So far she'd managed to hold he tongue, but her patience was wearing dangerously thin. "Did you hear that, Ranma? There's an exit up ahead."

"I hear fine," he said while continuing to drive straight.

"Well, aren't you at least going to get over into the other lane?"

Abruptly the big SUV swerved to the left, entering the HOV lanes.

"Ranma, what are you doing? All the exits are on the right."

Again the car swerved, this time crossing all six lanes at once before heading down an exit ramp.

"This isn't the exit," Akane said with an exasperated sigh.

"Is exit! Car say exit in two kilometer, we go two kilometer, we exit."

"No, he said two _miles_, not two kilometers. They don't use the metric system over here."

Ignoring the huge green sign telling him he could reenter the expressway just by going straight, Ranma turned left. They headed under the highway overpass emerging into a rundown section of East L.A. consisting mainly of empty warehouses and shabby little homes.

"Honestly, if I'd wanted to get this lost I'd have married Ryouga."

Ranma suddenly pulled into what appeared to be an abandoned gas station, braked to a stop and shifted into park.

"This fueling center appears to be closed for business," Adam said helpfully. "There's another one six point two miles to the east that is open and has reasonably priced fuel."

Ignoring the overly cheerful computer Ranma unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to check on the children. The boys were so thoroughly engrossed in their games they probably hadn't even noticed he'd stopped the car. Ranko-chan lay asleep in her car seat with her tiny mouth open, her snores barely audible over the muffled sound of gunfire and explosions coming from the twins' headphones.

"Ranma, what on Earth…" Akane began to say, but her husband held up his hand to silence her.

"Outside, Akane, now."

"I wouldn't recommend that, Mr. Saotome. This area has been flagged as…"

"You – shut – up!" Ranma hissed as he pounded the dashboard next to the navigation screen. Then he threw open the door and jumped out of the car.

Akane reached for the door handle and reluctantly pushed it open. This wasn't going to be pretty. Ranma was clearly so pissed off he didn't want the children to hear him yelling at her. "_I should never have compared him to Ryouga,_" she thought.

She met up with him at the back of the SUV. "Ranma, I'm sorry I said that, but why won't you just admit you can't understand English well enough to know what Adam is saying?"

"I understand English fine. That thing not speak proper English! It talk too fast."

"Adam is most certainly speaking proper English. I can understand everything he says. But maybe there's some way to make him slow down a little."

"Maybe some way make it shut up! Like rip out speakers?"

"We're never going to make it across the country without a GPS, so you'll just have to get used to him."

"Him, him, him. You make like it someone real. It only a car, Akane!" Ranma kicked at the rear bumper as if to prove the car had no feelings.

"That's great," Akane said with a frown. "Put a dent in the rental car before we've even had it a day."

While they continued to argue, two men watched them from an alley across the street. Both were young, well muscled and dressed in baggy shorts, white t-shirts and a red bandana tied across their foreheads hachimaki style.

"What'a you think of that, Ricky?" said the tall lanky man with dark chocolate colored skin.

"Looks good, Clyde." His olive skinned companion crouched down and pulled at the goatee on his chin. "Custom wheels, competition brakes, aftermarket chrome and that metal flake ain't factory paint. With all that tint I gotta think the inside's tricked out even more."

"Those chinks look like they own half the Seven Elevens in Watts. How's about we help 'em spread the wealth around the hood?" The black man reached into a big pocket on his pants leg and pulled out a pistol. Rubbing its chromed barrel against his stubbled cheek he said, "I'll grab the bling. You nab the ride."

By now Ranma had switched to Japanese in frustration. "_I didn't go the university to learn how to speak English like Shakespeare you know._"

"_Neither did I you big dummy. You were the only reason I stayed in school after Kasumi got into Tokyo University. All I wanted to do was go back home, run the dojo and take care of daddy. But you were so focused on getting a business degree I couldn't just leave you there alone."_

"_What do you mean you didn't want to finish college?_" Ranma looked shocked. "_Why haven't I heard about this before?_"

"_Because I thought you knew it already. I should have known better._"

"_Akane I never…_"

Ranma was cut short by an overly theatrical stage cough. He turned around slowly to find a tall black man with tattoos covering both arms towering over him. He wasn't even on his guard until the hazy smog defused sunlight glinted off the man's gun.

"You speaky English, chink?" Clyde barely finished saying this before the gun disappeared from his hand and reappeared dangling from Ranma's index finger.

"Gun not necessary. I understand just fine without."

Clyde chuckled nervously then reached into another pocket and pulled out a switchblade knife. He flicked it open and rubbed the long thin blade across his cheek.

"So you gots that kung fu shit, eh Chinaman?"

Ranma dropped the pistol. Before it hit the ground he tapped it underneath the van with a flick of his left foot. Crossing then recrossing his wrists, he dropped lightly into his fighting stance.

"Not Chinese, not kung fu, not waste time on your shit."

While this was going on Ricky slipped up on the SUV from the front and climbed into the driver's seat unnoticed by the either Ranma or Akane. He smiled as he felt the quality of the leather seats and scanned the dashboard full of advanced electronics. This was going to be quite a haul as soon as he hot wired the ignition switch.

"Good afternoon! Are you registered driver number two?"

"What?" He looked up at the sound of the cheery voice booming through the car. He started to turn and look for someone sitting in the backseat, but instead felt something tapping on his left shoulder. Turning that way he looked directly into the smiling face of a cute little Asian boy.

"Chigau!" Masato screamed into his face, but the foot that slammed into the back of his skull belonged to Hideto who had leapt into the passenger seat after his brother's diversion. The force of the blow sent the man's face smashing painfully into the bulletproof driver's door window.

Seeing nothing but stars, the would-be car thief tried to turn and face his attacker by pulling himself upright on the steering wheel. This only served to set him up for Masato's flying drop kick as a second Saotome twin vaulted the headrest. The bridge of Ricky's nose broke audibly as it slammed into the wheel, then his head slid down to impact a second time on the airbag cover with more than enough force to sound the car horn.

"_Aw, Nii-chan!_" Hideto whined._ "Why'd you do that, now mama's gonna spoil our fun._"

"Mama?" Groggy and disoriented, Ricky groaned out the only word he recognized from the string of Japanese. Instantly the driver's door flew open and he turned reflexively to face a new threat. Two small hands appeared out of nowhere and clamped themselves around his ears.

Bracing herself against the doorframe Akane hauled the big man out of the car. Dropping to the pavement and rolling backwards she planted her feet on his chest and launched him thirty feet across the parking lot into a bus shelter. The glass wall of the shelter exploded as his body crashed through it. Dazed, Ricky managed to stager to his feet, take two steps and then collapsed amid a sea of green glass pellets.

The stand off between Ranma and the other man lasted only until the car horn sounded. At the same moment Akane took off over car's roof, Ranma had launched himself at the knife wielding crook.

His first blow easily removed the weapon from the Clyde's grasp and left the big man's wrist dangling broken at his side. Unphased by the injury Clyde swung his other fist at Ranma, but found only empty space where he thought the little man should have been. In fact Ranma was already aiming a sweeping kick at Clyde's knees from behind.

The huge man went down like a giant sequoia tree felled by a martial arts chainsaw. No sooner had his face hit the pavement when Clyde felt himself being lifted off the ground by a little man only half his size. Ranma hoisted his opponent back into a standing position, stepped back and gave the man a few seconds to come back to his senses before the master of Anything Goes Martial Arts demonstrated his company's signature move.

The flying kick sent Clyde sailing into the same bus shelter his partner had shattered only moments before. He fell through the opening and came to rest draped over the bench seat as if he were there sleeping off a long night while waiting for the next bus.

Ranma rushed to Akane's side. Her shoulder was scraped and bruised from where she tumbled backwards on the rough concrete, but was otherwise fine. He easily lifted his wife to her feet and enveloped her in a strong hug. "_I'm so sorry, Akane. I'm a fool for making such a big fuss over this. Let's just get back in the car and get out of here before any more of these yakuza types show up._"

"_I think it's too late for that, Ranma,_" Akane said pointing over his shoulder.

Behind them in the street just beyond the broken bus shelter a large crowd had begun to gather. Ranma looked at the mob of angry brown and black faces with growing alarm.

x x x

Author's Notes:

(1) Hachimaki - a stylized Japanese headband (bandana) usually made of red or white cloth, worn as a symbol of perseverance or effort by the wearer.

(2) Chigau! - Japanese for "Wrong!"


	4. Chapter 3 – Las Vegas

**Chapter Three  
Las Vegas**

Ranma scanned the crowd of people gathering in the street. There were about forty of them now with more wandering in from all directions. Men and women, young and old, black and brown, but not one Asian face amongst them. He positioned himself between the crowd and Akane, preparing for the worst.

"_Get in the car, lock all the doors and see if that damn computer can call the police._"

"_Ranma, I'm not leaving you out here alone._"

"_Akane, I need you to protect Ranko-chan and the boys. I can't do this unless I know they're safe!_"

"_We'll be safe, Dad!_"

"_We're gonna help!_"

Masato and Hideto had hopped out of the front seat and taken up fighting stances on either side of their mother.

"_Get back in the car this instant!_" Akane hissed at them.

"_No time for that now,_" Ranma said. "_Just close the door and lock it._"

He didn't sense movement behind him yet he heard the car door slam shut followed by a loud thunk as all the door locks dropped into place. There was no time to regroup his little family now because a single black man had separated from the crowd of onlookers and was approaching them.

He was a huge man, easily over two meters tall and maybe twenty or twenty-five years old. He wasn't wearing a shirt and the well defined muscles of his sweaty chest let Ranma know he was no casual weight lifter. He moved with a grace not usually associated with tall muscle-bound men, his steps purposeful and precise. With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, Ranma realized this man was a true martial artist.

The man reached the ruins of the bus shelter where the two would-be muggers lay unmoving. He bent over the Latino man and felt his neck for a pulse then stripped the red bandanna off the fallen man's head. He examined it with a scowl and then ripped open the unconscious man's shirt, exposing his tattoos.

"Damn Blood trash ain't got no business here." The big man stood up and looked straight at Ranma, his fist clenched around the red bandanna. His large dark eyes were cold and emotionless like those of a shark. He easily outweighed Ranma two to one and if he were half the martial artist Ranma feared he might be, Ranma was going to have his hands full.

That meant Akane and the boys were at the mercy of the ever growing mob. An image of them fighting for their lives and another of the mob attacking the van with Ranko-chan inside popped into his head. Instantly and unbidden his battle aura exploded into full force. He needed to eliminate the threat to his family and do it quickly. Anxiously he eyed a three story brick building on the far side of the street. He might be able to knock it down on top of the crowd before they or his opponent had a chance to attack. He began to focus his inner determination and confidence in preparation for the Moko Takabisha.

The crowd reacted to Ranma's battle aura by taking a collective step backwards, except for one old black woman with wiry white hair who actually stepped towards him. Ranma automatically assessed her threat level, but she was showing no battle aura of any kind. She looked like any other old woman, wise with age and gentle in her walk. She approached him slowly and he relaxed without dropping his guard. When she was just beyond his reach she stopped and squinted at Ranma with wrinkled old eyes.

"I know you," she said in a voice as fragile as dried seaweed. "My grandson was in the gangs. They had him selling drugs when he was just eleven year old. Then that martial arts school opened up with your picture in the window. Most of them boys in the gangs are all dead now, but my Henry growed up to be a good man thanks to you, Mr. Sowtomay."

Ranma was stunned. He looked from the old woman to the powerful black man who was now standing at attention with his left hand covering his right fist. The big man bowed respectfully and Ranma numbly returned it. He looked at the old woman again and stuttered, "Y-you are welcome. I-I glad to have your grandson in my school."

"Oh Henry's not in school no more. He runs his own school now."

The big man now approached Ranma and offered his hand. As they shook he said, "I'm Henry Watson. I got an e-mail saying you were in town, sensei, but I never expected to see you in a place like this."

Ranma grinned sheepishly. "Not really plan on being here, get lost on way to Las Vegas. Sorry we make such big mess."

"Don't you worry about that, sensei. Gang trash like them ain't welcome here and they know it. This is a clean hood and we aim to keep it that way."

"Hey, Henry," someone called out. "Since when do you know the Incredibles?" Laughter ran through the crowd whose anger Ranma now realized was directed more at the criminals than his family.

He tried to imagine what they must look like to these people. The four of them standing there in various fighting stances could easily be taken for the superhero family from the animated movies. He wondered what Mr. Watson would look like dressed in a bright blue jumpsuit and laughed at the image in his mind.

"Tell me, Henry-san, you own Anything Goes franchise?"

"Well, not really a franchise. The kids in the hood can't afford to pay nothin', so we train 'em in the Art for free. We get some support from the cops, some more from the community center, but mostly Anything Goes gives us what we need for free. We got three dojos here now and we're tryin' to open up another one over in Watts."

"You know Jeffu Atsukins?"

"Oh yeah, Mr. Jeff's always sendin' us posters and equipment and stuff. He's a straight up guy."

"Yes, he is," Ranma said with a smile, but he was thinking Jeff might have mentioned they were supporting free dojos in the ghetto. "You call Jeffu tomorrow and tell him I come back do demo just for kids. He make all arrangements."

"Really, sensei? That would be great!"

"And after demo I show _you_ few things about Art you may not believe." Ranma winked and the big man's eyes went wide.

"Wow! I don't know what to say, Saotome-sensei."

"Well I do!" his grandmother said swatting at the big man's arm with her handbag. She stepped right in front of Ranma and planted a motherly kiss on his forehead. "Thank you Mr. Sowtomay and God bless you."

Ranma was too astonished to move, Japanese people just didn't up and kiss strangers. It was Akane who broke the ensuing silence. "You're very welcome, ma'am. My name is Akane Saotome, I'm Ranma's wife. I think what your grandson is doing is wonderful and of course Ranma will continue to support him in anyway he can."

"Are those your boys, sweetie?" the old woman asked pointing to the twins and Akane nodded her head. "They sure do look like their daddy, don't they? I bet they're a handful. Don't suppose you boys would like some ice cold lemonade? Just made some up fresh…"

Henry interrupted her. "Ma-maw, they don't have time for a visit. Didn't you hear Saotome-sensei say they're headed for Las Vegas?" He turned to Ranma. "You best get back on the road before the cops show up. Don't worry about this mess, the L.A.P.D. know me and I'll make sure you ain't mentioned in the report."

"Thank you, Henry-san. What Akane say true. You have my full support."

They shook hands again and the big man bowed to each of them before turning back to the carnage that had once been a bus shelter. His grandmother also made a bowing motion, but then waved at the boys who giggled and waved back.

Ranma turned and herded Masato towards the car whose doors unlocked just before he touched the handle. Akane led Hideto to the other side and after the boys were settled in, Ranma met her by the passenger door.

"Akane, you drive."

She smiled at him. "Really, are you sure? I promise I won't say anything unless you start driving us into the ocean or something."

"No, I read car manual and listen for while, maybe stupid car not so like our car back home after all."

They climbed in and Akane ran through the registration process to make her the second driver. They rolled down the windows and waved to the crowd as Akane pulled away.

"Are we resuming our trip to the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas?" Adam asked.

Ranma started to answer, but stopped and began rummaging through the glove compartment looking for the user's manual. Akane smiled and answered, "Yes, Adam. That's where we're going."

In the silence that followed, Akane could just barely hear Ranma grinding his teeth.

o o o

Nabiki stood in the lobby of the Bellagio hotel absentmindedly counting the arriving guests. She knew, based on industry figures, what their gross annual family income was, how long they were likely to be staying in Las Vegas, the proportion of their time here spent gambling versus doing other activities, the ratio of winners to losers, she even had a good idea how much cash each one had in their pockets.

She knew the ethnic breakdown of guests staying at premium versus budget hotels and didn't expect to see many Asians in the crowd. That was one figure she intended to change soon. She'd already spent millions advertising Samurai across Asia and the media blitz that was to follow its opening would be unprecedented in the industry. By the end of the year every man, woman and child in China, Korea and Japan would know just where they wanted to spend their vacation money.

And at the heart of it all, directing every phase of construction, staffing, promotion and security was Nabiki Tendo-Kuno. Wife of internationally renowned real estate developer Tatewaki Kuno, she was already a regular feature on many of the celebrity gossip webzines. E! Entertainment had done a piece on her for the hotel's opening and she'd heard from 60 Minutes earlier in the week.

She felt an adrenalin rush at the thought of what the next year would bring and something close to an orgasm when she thought of all the money to be made. It was a long way from hustling Tate for his lunch money in middle school, but with his help she was finally living the life she'd always dreamed about.

She saw Akane and Ranma crossing the casino floor towards her and cleared her head. Her sister arrived late the previous evening after a long drive over the mountains and through the desert. She'd arranged for them to stay in one of the hotel's condominium suites. Most of the big hotels had begun selling off their upper floors to offset the drop in tourism over the past few years. She and Tate had been one of the Bellagio's first residents.

She'd offered her sister and brother-in-law a tour of the Samurai construction site, but suggested they drop off the kid's at the hotel's daycare center first. Akane agreed to that plan, so it was a little surprising to see her sister carrying a diaper bag and Ranma with a baby slung across his chest.

"What happened?" Nabiki asked, her hands going instantly to her hips. "I thought you were leaving the kids at the day care center?"

"We did," Akane said cheerfully. "Last we saw of the boys, they'd hooked up with a little girl their age and were crawling around inside of a giant hamster maze."

"Well, what about that one?"

"We not sure staff able to look after Ranko-chan," Ranma said, patting the baby's fuzzy red head.

Nabiki sighed dramatically. "Look, Ranma, I know you're all full of maternal instinct now, but the Bellagio has been running that nursery since the day they opened and haven't lost a baby yet."

"Maybe not," Akane interjected. "But have they ever gone to feed a little red haired girl only to find a dark haired little boy in her place?"

A vision of a CNN news scrawl ran through Nabiki's mind; "Las Vegas baby swap scandal enters second bewildering week. Owners of new casino project implicated as whereabouts of martial artist's daughter remain a mystery."

"We think this way is best," Ranma added. "Is okay to take baby to construction site?"

"Ah… sure…" Nabiki said hesitantly, while insurance policy details were playing out in her brain. "We'll just have to avoid the hardhat areas. We better get going; I promised we'd meet Tate at noon for lunch in the boardroom. He's entertaining some investors today."

"Maybe we shouldn't go then," Akane said looking at Ranma with a frown.

"Oh no, sis, by now Tate's already told them all you're coming. As much as he wanted to kick Ranma's butt in high school, these days he really gets off on telling people he's the brother-in-law of a famous martial artist."

"Bet he not tell them how many times I leave footprints on his face," Ranma chuckled.

"Or me," Akane added with a grin.

They piled into a limo at the side entrance and headed west along Tropicana Avenue, under the Interstate. Nabiki knew she was taking a big risk building her hotel so far from the established 'strip' along Las Vegas Boulevard, but she was counting on the new bullet trains from LA to bring even more people into Las Vegas and Samurai was right next door to the new terminal building.

The triangular shaped lot at the corner of Valley View and Tropicana had once been home to a warehouse and the town's largest adult video store. Now it was a frenzied collection of construction trailers, landscapers, cement trucks, forklifts, cranes and pickup trucks. Out of the midst of this chaos arose a towering twenty one story gleaming white edifice loosely based on Himeji Castle west of Kobe. Its graceful curving rooflines stacked one on top of another gave it a mountainous feeling.

Nabiki had to smile when she looked at the peak of that mountain and saw her new home sitting atop it. The ten thousand square foot multi-level penthouse was an eclectic mix of western and eastern styling and every inch of it had received her approval, as had just about everything else in the hotel.

She'd only relinquished creative control over the design of the casino itself where a global team of experts had masterfully combined the gambling habits of two hemispheres. There would be more ways to lose your money at Samurai than any other place in North America.

"How long you been building this thing, Nabiki?" Ranma asked as they drove up to the construction entrance.

"We broke ground a little less than six months ago. Construction has been on a twenty-four hour schedule ever since. The parking garage is being held up by the city because they're dragging their feet on the Shinkansen terminal, but we'll manage to push that through. Both the hotel and casino should be ready for the opening in October."

"I can't believe you're really doing all of this, Nabiki," Akane said. "It all seems so unreal."

"You'd be amazed what you can do with other people's money, little sister." Nabiki grinned. It was true she and Tate had everything riding on the success of this venture, but the Kuno fortune was a drop in the bucket compared to the money invested by other syndicate members.

"Where's big cherry tree from video?" Ranma asked looking out at the front of the hotel where a tower of scaffolding rose up from a half empty concrete lake.

"You're looking at it," Nabiki said with a smirk. "You can't grow giant trees in the desert, so we're building one. It's going to be over a hundred feet tall too. They're making it out of steel and some sort of concrete just like the one at Disneyworld."

"So, will the blossoms be fake too?" Akane asked.

"Nope, they'll be so real we've had to install special robots in the lake to collect the falling petals. You see, the limbs of the tree will support thousands of little growing pots filled with genetically engineered cherry blossom plants. We had a hell of a time importing them from China, but they bloom all year around and never grow taller than a few of inches. Here at Samurai it will always be spring!"

The limo pulled up to the main entrance, which was flanked on either side by huge stone lions. A steady stream of workmen flowed in and out of the hotel and the signs of frenzied construction were everywhere. As they piled out of the car a young man in a white hardhat jogged up to them.

"Excuse me, Ms. Tendo?"

"Yes, Eddie" Nabiki recognized the young engineering student who acted as the chief contractor's assistant. "What is it?"

"Your husband asked if you could meet him in the boardroom right away. They had to cut their tour short. One of the Japanese gentlemen had mobility issues."

"You mean he's crippled?" Nabiki never understood why Americans were so reluctant to just say what they really meant.

"Um… yes, ma'am. They're up there waiting for you right now."

"Thank you, Eddie. Would you tell your boss I'd like to review the tiling schedule this afternoon? I think we may need to bring in a couple more subs."

"Yes ma'am!" The young man did everything but snap to attention and salute before he turned on his heel and jogged off in the direction of the construction trailers

"You run tight ship, Nabiki." Ranma said with a grin.

"I have to. A lot of very scary people have invested a great deal of money in this place. Someone's got to make sure it opens on time. You don't think Tate's going to do that, do you?"

"Guess not. Who these people we meet today?"

Nabiki began walking towards the entrance as she talked. Just being here on the jobsite made her want to rush around. "A big investor from Japan. Even though he's been in the deal from the start, this is the fist time he's been to the site. They were never clear about why, but I guess he has some health problems. Anyway his yen are healthy enough, so I'd like to make a good impression on him."

Ranma bent his head forward and wrinkled his nose. "Then maybe I should change little stinker before meeting. Is toilet near boardroom?"

"Uh, no," Nabiki tried to remember the last status report on the plumbing she'd received. "The only working restrooms are here on the first floor near the reception desk. Or at least where the desk will be someday. Just turn right when we get to the lobby. When you're done take the elevator up to the twenty-first floor. The boardroom is right across the hall. Akane and I will go on ahead, okay?"

Her little sister laughed and handed the diaper bag to Ranma who looked confused. "Nabiki, you're sounding more like an American every time I see you!" Then she turned to her husband and repeated the instructions in Japanese.

Ranma nodded and then followed a group of construction workers into the hotel. Akane turned back and cocked her head to one side. "Don't look upset sis. You were just talking a little too fast for him. You've lost a lot of your Japanese accent too, so when you get this wound up its even hard for me to understand you."

Nabiki suddenly felt this was the right time to bring up a touchy subject, one she'd been avoiding for years. She braced herself for her little sister's reaction and said, "Akane, I'm… I'm not coming back to Japan. Tate and I have decided to stay here permanently."

Akane looked at her blankly for a few seconds, then threw back her head and laughed. "Well duh! Kasumi and I had that figured out years ago. It's daddy who won't accept it. Just promise me you'll come home every now and then for a visit and I'll break it to him gently. You belong here, Nabiki, you always have."

"You… you knew?" Nabiki was actually stunned. She'd been certain she had the whole family fooled. What other little 'secrets' did her sisters know about her?

"I've been saying it since you left for college. I didn't know if it would be Europe or the United States, but Japan was never big enough for you, onee-chan."

Nabiki looked at her little sister and smiled in wonder at the woman before her. When had Akane grown up? Where was the tomboy who hated every boy in school except one? She was a mother now, with that same calm motherly demeanor Nabiki could just barely remember their own mother having. For crying out loud, Akane even looked like their mother!

"Come on, sis," Nabiki said, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. "Let me show you my new dollhouse."

Once they were alone together in the elevator, Nabiki gave her little sister a long hug. She missed her sisters terribly, it was the hardest thing she'd ever given up, but with her dream in sight it was good to know they believed in what she was doing.

When the doors opened on the twenty-first floor, she was ready once again to play the role of unemotional businesswoman. Nabiki walked confidently through the double doors of the boardroom, watched the five men in suits stand up from the table as she entered, heard her sister gasp and then froze in her tracks.

Nabiki had never learned martial arts. She resisted all of Soun's attempts to teach her anything. She'd used Akane's interest in the Art to shield herself from the physical demands of training. But seventeen years in the Tendo household had managed to leave her with at least one crucial talent of an advanced martial artist. Nabiki could read a person's battle aura better than anyone in the family.

She'd used the ability to capture Ranma in hundreds of compromising positions over the years. She could read her little sister like a book, always knowing when the youngest Tendo was angry, upset, frustrated or… at those times when Ranma had found a chink in her little sister's armor and gotten Akane excited.

Since leaving home this ability of hers had become even handier, both for pleasure and business. She could tell instantly which potential business partners were planning to screw her out of a deal and turned the tables on them before they even knew what hit them. She'd become such a good poker player, she was banned from all but the most exclusive tables in Las Vegas.

Right now she could sense Akane's anger. It had slammed into her back like a hot wall of fire. Whenever Akane was this mad it was usually accompanied by frustration, but this time the underlying emotion was fear. Akane's battle aura was not what had stopped Nabiki in her tracks however. It was the equally strong and equally angry aura originating from inside the boardroom. One of the five men facing her right now was mad enough to kill. She scanned the line and settled on the one standing next to her husband.

He was about average height for a Japanese man and very thin. The Armani suit he was wearing looked as if it had been tailored for a much larger man. His black hair was slicked back from his forehead and he wore a silk eye patch elegantly over his left eye. He was trembling and at first Nabiki thought it was from rage, but then she noticed he was leaning on a silver topped cane. He looked for all the world like the villain in a cheap spy movie.

Tate was of course totally unaware of the angry forces at work around him. He stepped forward with a big smile and began introductions in Japanese. "_This is my beauteous and talented wife, Goddess of the Nevada Desert, Nabiki, who most of you know already. And the vision of loveliness at the door is her adoring little sister, Saotome Akane._ _Nabiki, my ever alluring spouse, I'd like you to meet Nabe Yoshi. Nabe-sama is the head of the esteemed Yakitori Investment Group. Akane, let me have the honor to introduce…_"

"We've met…"

The awkward silence that followed was only broken by the ringing of a cell phone. When Nabiki recognized the theme song from 'Shakespeare In Love' she coughed dramatically and looked imploringly back at her sister. Akane never took her eyes off the stranger as she reached into her pocketbook and flipped open the phone.

"Yes? ... I don't know, I'll ask. Nabiki, the hot water doesn't seem to be working in the first floor men's room. Is it working in the lady's room?"

Nabiki realized instantly who was on the other end of the call and the implications behind the question. She shook her head slowly. "There's no hot water anywhere in the building. The boilers won't be installed for another two weeks."

o o o

Ranma stood impatiently in the elevator as it slowly made its way up to the twenty-first floor, a baby cradled in her left arm, the fingers of her right hand drumming nervously on the wall padded with cardboard. Something was wrong. She'd heard it in Akane's voice. Her wife's blunt response, "Never mind, just get up here _right_ now. And don't put Ranko-chan in the sling," had been filled with tension.

Akane might just be pissed off at Ranma for being stuck in girl mode, but what was she supposed to do? Not wash her hands after changing the baby? It wasn't her fault there was no hot water in the building. Nabiki might have mentioned that before sending her to the toilet with a messy child.

As the floor numbers continued to climb on the digital readout, she became more and more anxious. Something was very wrong about this situation, something beyond her spouse's usual hot tempered responses. As the doors began to open, she sensed Akane's battle aura and knew she'd been right.

The doors of the boardroom across the hallway stood open. Akane was standing just inside and beyond her Ranma could see Nabiki. They were both facing to the right, looking at something at the far end of the room. Ranko-chan squirmed in her arms and began making a sound she recognized as the prelude to a crying fit.

She squared her shoulders and strode into the room, deposited the whimpering baby into Akane's waiting arms, pushed past a stunned Nabiki and came face to face with the man she thought she'd killed months ago.

"_Hello, Chanko,_" Ranma said in Japanese, trying to make her soprano voice sound even higher and more irritating than usual. "_I hope you enjoyed your flight._"

"_Saotome_," Nabe wheezed out the word as if struggling to catch his breath. "_Did you follow me all the way to Las Vegas just to finish me off?_"

"_I was about to ask you the same thing. Just what the hell are you doing here?_"

"_Ranma,_" Nabiki spoke quietly from behind her. "_Nabe-sama is here representing one of our Japanese investment companies. He was responsible for putting together the Samurai syndicate in the first place._"

"_Oh…_" Ranma was suddenly disoriented. If Nabe was here on business, why were he and Akane squaring off?

"Young lady." She turned back to find one of the other men addressing her in English. "Mr. Nabe has every right to be in his own hotel, but just what do you think you are doing here?"

"_Are these your new gang members, Nabe?_" Ranma looked over the three other men, the one who'd addressed her was middle aged with an obvious paunch beneath his expensive looking suit. The other two were younger, but didn't look to be in much better shape. "_Kind of scraping the bottom of the Yakuza barrel, aren't you?_"

"_Red haired goddess,_" Tate said with a nervous look around. "_These honored gentlemen are lawyers representing Nabe-sama's interests here in Las Vegas. They are all of Japanese-American birthright and decidedly not members of any criminal organization._"

"_You see, Saotome, you're out of your element here,_" Nabe hissed. He began to laugh, but it quickly deteriorated into a hacking cough. He half sat, half fell into the chair behind him. He looked like an old man and Ranma knew for a fact Nabe was several years younger than she and Akane.

"_What happened to you, Nabe? How did you survive the Hiryu Shouten Ha?_"

"Mr. Nabe," one of the lawyers said. "You do not have to answer this woman's questions. We would advise you to say nothing and have her removed…"

"Shut up," Nabe barked at the man. "When I want your opinion, I'll pay you for it." He turned back to Ranma and pulled himself up to the table. "_I got lucky, Saotome, my men fell into Tokyo Bay and were drowned. It took my family weeks to find their bodies. But I fell onto a dredging barge full of sand. I broke half the bones in my body, but I survived._"

He tried to laugh again with the same result. After another coughing fit he continued. "_Do you know what kept me alive for months in the hospital? Trying to figure out how a scrawny little pregnant woman could have beaten me with my own technique._"

"Oh my god!" Nabiki gasped from the doorway behind her. "_Is he the one?_"

"_Yes, Nabiki,_" Ranma said icily. "_Nabe-kun here kidnapped your sister and tried to kill me and the baby. And the __Hiryu Shouten Ha is not your technique, Chanko. You should have paid more attention to what Cologne was trying to teach you. Or did Shampoo show you how it was done?_"

"_What are you babbling about?_" Nabe said, looking confused. "_Cologne, shampoo, what have cosmetic products to do with martial arts? You've been a woman too long, Saotome, it's affecting your mind. Who I learned the technique from is my business. But I'll tell you this much, I'm not the only one in the world who would like to see you dead._"

"Mr. Nabe, please!" The middle-aged lawyer pleaded. "I really must warn you that such statements place your investments here in jeopardy. We are already under severe scrutiny by the Nevada Gaming Commission because of your associations in Japan."

Nabe looked at the man and scowled, but then his face softened. "You are correct, Shiromori. This not what I come for. Kuno-san, we continue now with your wife here. Can have these… relatives removed?"

Tate looked uncomfortable as he turned to Ranma. "Ranko, would you mind? You and Akane can wait for us in our apartment. It's down the hall to the right. And would you ask Ranma to wait there as well?"

Ranma blinked and turned to Nabiki, "He still not get it?"

"No and apparently neither do you." Nabiki stepped forward and grabbed her arm. She dragged Ranma into the hallway and Akane followed along with the whimpering baby. "Look, I had no idea this guy was the one who came after you, but we've been doing business with his company for almost two years. Mr. Nabe has pumped over a billion dollars into this place and I'm not going to let you turn this into another one of your martial arts challenges. Now please just go wait for us in the apartment. I'm sorry there's no furniture yet, but there are some benches out by the pool."

Nabiki stalked back into the boardroom closing the doors behind her. Ranma turned to Akane, but before either could say a word Ranko-chan began to cry at last. Ranma reached out for the baby, whose jet black hair surprised both parents.

"You know," Ranma said thoughtfully as they turned and walked down the hall. "Maybe he change because you get angry. Why you about to fight Nabe anyway?"

"Me? What about you, charging in there ready for a brawl? I wasn't going to fight the little twerp, but I had to be ready to defend myself. He took me by surprise, that's all."

"You surprise too easy, Akane."

"You're right, after living with you all these years nothing should surprise me."

o o o

Ranma paced the length of their hotel suite's living room again with the screaming baby on her shoulder and stared out the windows. The lights of Las Vegas had not dimmed even at this late hour, if anything the town appeared more alive then ever. In her arms Ranko-chan seemed to share the city's excitement as he wailed on.

A bleary eyed brunette appeared at the bedroom door. At least Akane's sleeping schedule had finally overcome the effects of jetlag. She walked up to Ranma and held out her arms. In Japanese she said, "_Need a break?_"

"_Thanks, Akane._" Ranma handed over the crying baby. Ranko quieted for a second as he reassessed who was holding him and then started crying again, apparently unsatisfied with the change of venue.

"_How long has he been like this?_" Akane was stroking Ranko's face with her fingertips, a strategy that sometimes distracted their baby but now only seemed to aggravate him.

"_Ever since I fed him, nearly two hours ago._"

"_Really?_" Akane looked shocked. "_I haven't heard a thing._"

"_Nabiki said these suites are designed so a rock band can hold an all night party in one room while their kids are sound asleep in the next. She said it's a welcome change to the paper thin walls back home._"

Akane snickered. "_She made a lot of money listening through those paper thin walls. Why don't you go test it out? You look exhausted._"

"_No,_" Ranma said as she pressed her hands into the small of her back. "_I think I'll change and take him for a drive. That's all that ever seems to work when he gets like this._"

"_Maybe I should come along._" Akane said looking concerned.

Ranma stopped stretching and straightened up, her braless breasts bouncing ponderously beneath the 'Mommy needs a break' tee shirt. "_Look, Akane, I'm just going to get on the highway and drive in a straight line for an hour and then come straight back. That stupid computer doesn't even need to be turned on._"

Ranma took a quick hot shower and emerged from the bedroom fifteen minutes later drying his damp black hair with a towel and wearing a rather tight fitting black and red tracksuit.

Akane giggled. "_Ranma, isn't that an outfit from your female suitcase? It doesn't really fit, you know?_"

"_I know,_" he said as he bent over and opened the mini-bar. He took out a bottle of cold spring water, holding it carefully away from himself. He dropped it into Ranko's diaper bag as though it were a live hand grenade. "_I wanna be able to change again in case this doesn't work._"

He looped the bag over his shoulder and then began searching for the car keys. Akane laughed then walked over to him and held out the noisy squirming infant. "_No car keys. Remember?_"

"_Oh, yeah. How could I forget?_"

He felt self-conscious walking down the hallway and hoped all the doors on this floor were as soundproof as the ones in their suite. The elevator was thankfully empty, but when its doors opened up on the main lobby, Ranma would have sworn it was the middle of the day and not four AM. The casino was as packed as ever.

He'd have to ask Nabiki why these places were designed so you had to walk through the casino every time you needed to get anywhere. Why not just build the parking garage next to the hotel where it belonged? For the most part, Ranko-chan's cries drowned out the sounds of people losing money. He guessed there weren't many jackpots given out at this time of night.

The parking lot attendant wanted to bring the car around for him, but he explained as best he could that the car wouldn't allow it. Ranma's English always got worse when he was tired, so the whole exchange took twice as long as it should have. Meanwhile Ranko's cries echoed through the parking garage and seemed to amplify as they bounced from concrete to steel and back again.

He found the Highlander and strapped Ranko into her car seat. He paused with his hand on the driver's door handle and took a deep breath. "_It's only a computer._"

"Good morning, Mr. Saotome. What is your destination?" Adam's cheerful voice rang out in English over Ranko-chan's screaming. It did nothing more than grate on Ranma's already frayed nerves.

"No destination. Just drive for baby to sleep."

"Very well then, the navigation system is in stand-by mode. Do you wish to disable any other systems?"

"Can disable talking?"

"If you wish, I can use visual prompts and respond vocally only to direct questions."

Ranma smiled. The thing was finally making some sense. "Yes, do that!"

Text appeared on the central console screen: 'Voice prompt mode disabled.' Adam didn't say another word and Ranma's mood was greatly improved as he backed out of the parking space. By the time he'd driven down three levels to the street exit, Ranko-chan was already beginning to quiet down.

When he stopped for the automated gate to rise, he noticed a black Mercedes sedan parked at the curb across the street. What caught his eye were the headlights. They were dark in spite of the obvious exhaust fumes rising into the chilly morning air from the tailpipe. To his knowledge all cars in America had been built with automatic headlights for many years now. This looked like a pretty new model, so they really ought to be on. In the backseat, Ranko began crying again. Ranma quickly forgot about the black car and returned his focus to the mission at hand.

As he drove down South Las Vegas Boulevard he marveled at all the world famous landmarks located along this short stretch of road. The Luxor's black glass pyramid, the gaudy façade of the MGM Grand, and the towering minarets of the Arabian Nights all passed by outside. Ranko had fallen asleep by the time they reached the famous 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign and the entrance to Interstate Fifteen.

He drove east and used the buttons on the steering wheel to manually set the cruse control to the speed limit. Outside of Las Vegas the road became almost arrow straight and he was able to relax and drive along with just one hand. He glanced over his shoulder and Ranko was sound asleep. To him, this was transformational magic far more powerful than any Jusenkyo curse.

After about twenty minutes he found his eyelids getting heavy and he yawned several times. When he did this back home, he'd plug his music player into the car's stereo. Classic British rock was his favorite and he could play it as loud as he liked and it never seemed to wake up the baby.

Akane spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the boys' games working on the video system, but she hadn't checked to see if his digital player was compatible as well. As he dug around inside the diaper bag on the passenger seat for the little music player, he looked at the console screen for the first time since leaving the hotel.

'Warning! We are being followed. Engage pursuit mode?'

Ranma blinked. "What you mean being followed?"

With what sounded like relief in his voice Adam said aloud, "A late model black sedan has been following us since we left the parking garage. It is now two hundred yards to the rear and closing."

The console screen changed to the backup camera. At the center of the nighttime enhanced green image was a car. The distinctive Mercedes grille and darkened headlights were clearly visible and growing larger as it drew nearer. Ranma recognized it as the car he'd seen outside the hotel and frowned.

"Who follow us?"

"Identification is not possible at this time. However, a scan of the Nevada State Patrol web site would suggest it is not a police vehicle."

Ranma watched in fascination as the image grew on the monitor. When it nearly filled the screen, flashing red letters appeared: 'Collision warning!'

The Highlander lurched forward as the sedan smashed into its rear bumper. Ranma grabbed the wheel with both hands, struggling to keep the big car on the road. He floored the accelerator and glanced at the monitor. The Mercedes fell back momentarily, but then quickly closed in again. Once more the warning message flashed on the screen just moments before they were rear ended a second time.

"Why you not tell me before?"

"By your request I can only respond verbally to direct questions."

"Well stop that! Talk to me."

"Voice prompt mode enabled. Pursuing vehicle at eighteen yards and closing. Do you wish to engage pursuit mode?"

"What?" the computer was spewing out English so fast Ranma couldn't understand half of what it was saying, but he caught the part about the other car closing in again. Even with his lightening fast reflexes Ranma couldn't keep the van on the road for long. He'd never had time to learn how to drive properly. Genma taught him everything he knew, but that was mostly how to steal a car not how to drive it.

"Ten yards and closing… five yards… three yards… Collision warning!"

This time the Highlander went careening off onto the shoulder, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel that forced the Mercedes to fall back briefly. Regaining control, Ranma got the big car back on the road and floored it again. In frustration he shouted out in Japanese, "_Can't this thing go faster?_"

"_Pursuit mode engaged._"

The windshield instantly lit up with a grid of bright blue lines. The road ahead suddenly glowed green and details along the roadside stood out like it was noontime. Around the edges of the window glowing words and numbers appeared in various colors.

"_Amperage limiting switches disengaged. Primary engine locked into transmission mode. Nitrous oxide reserve level at eighty six percent, this will yield a boost duration of nine point two seconds. Please ensure your seatbelt is securely fastened and both hands are firmly on the steering wheel. Press the accelerator all the way the floor and hold for two seconds to engage the booster system._"

Ranma didn't hesitate. He gripped the wheel tightly and pressed down on the accelerator. He'd thought he had it floored, but now the pedal moved an extra couple of millimeters and he felt something go 'click'. He waited in silence, the only sounds being the noise of the tires against the road and Ranko's waking up gurgles from the backseat. The backup camera was now displayed on the windshield under the rearview mirror and the image of the Mercedes was growing larger again.

"_Booster engaged._"

Pure nitrous oxide at two atmospheres of pressure flooded the fuel injectors turning the sedate sixty-four horsepower engine, which was designed only to generate electricity and occasionally provide torque for acceleration, into a one hundred and forty horsepower growling tiger. Adam had reprogrammed the transmission to accept the massive increase in power and add it to that of the four electric motors now operating at one hundred and ten percent of their rated amperage.

Smoke began to billow from underneath the Highlander as all four tires immediately started spinning wildly. The outer layers of rubber began to melt and when enough had liquefied for the force of adhesion to overcome the weaker force of inertia the car took off.

Ranma was pressed into the driver's seat as the car rocketed forward. He'd identified the large blue numbers at the bottom of the heads-up display as the speedometer. It had topped out at '91' before, but now it rapidly increased past '100' to '102'… 104'… '106'. The image of the Mercedes began to get smaller and then its headlights came on. It became nothing more than two bright dots on the screen that merged into one dot and then was gone.

In the backseat, Ranko screamed in delight and Ranma could clearly hear his laughter over the sound of the roaring engine. Ahead the green image of the roadway blurred as the speedometer passed '126'… '129'… '132'.

There was a bright blue line running down the center of the windshield display that was lined up perfectly with the center of the highway. A small red circle appeared over this line with crosshairs inside. It started moving slowly to the right and when the edge of the circle separated from the blue line a large flashing red arrow appeared pointing to the left. Ranma carefully nudged the steering wheel to the left and the little circle moved back over the blue line.

"_Booster exhaustion in 3… 2… 1…_"

The blinding acceleration suddenly ceased and with it the sound of the engine. The little red target and the directing arrows reappeared and Ranma was kept busy keeping the drifting vehicle centered on the road.

"_Exit onto Hidden Valley Road in three point two kilometers. Please prepare for emergency braking._"

A huge green sign flashed by on the right, but all Ranma could make out was a white circle with the number '78' inside and the words 'Exit 2 miles'. Suddenly he was thrown forward, his shoulder digging painfully into the seatbelt. The Highlander began to lose speed rapidly, but was still going over ninety when a big red arrow appeared pointing up and to the right.

Ranma eased the van onto the exit ramp and held on for dear life. Up until now the car had been in regenerative breaking, using the electric motors as generators to convert speed back into power for the batteries. But now the four big aftermarket competition racing brakes kicked in and once again smoke billowed from the tires.

The ramp dipped downwards ending at a four-way intersection below the level of the Interstate. Another big flashing red arrow appeared on the heads-up display indicating a hard left turn and Ranma yanked the wheel in that direction. The Highlander fishtailed through the intersection, but stopped short of making a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn. It straightened out and raced below the highway. They flew under the eastbound overpass and then skidded to a halt underneath the westbound bridge. All the lights went out at once and they sat in sudden darkness.

Ranma let go of the steering wheel reluctantly. His fingers where nearly numb from gripping it so hard and he worried he might have left lasting impressions in the leather. He was breathing rapidly and his heart was beating like a Taiko drum. He tried to calm down and listen for the squeal of tires that might indicate the Mercedes had followed them down the exit ramp, but the only sound was Ranko's continuing laughter.

He turned around in his seat wishing he could see his son's grinning face in the darkness. "_You liked that, didn't you, Ranko-chan? I see we're going to have to sneak you onto roller coasters the same way we did your brothers._" In response Ranko shrieked with glee. Shaking his head, Ranma turned to the darkened console and asked rhetorically in Japanese, "_I wonder if we lost them?_"

"_There are no indications of continuing pursuit, Saotome-sama._"

"_Good,_" Ranma nodded at this news. Then he did a double take and asked in stunned English, "What you just say?"

"I said there are no indications of continuing pursuit, Mr. Saotome," Adam responded in English.

"No, no! Say it like before!"

"That would require me to answer an English question in Japanese."

"_You speak Japanese?_" Ranma shouted in amazement.

"_Of course, Saotome-sama. I am able to respond in fourteen different languages including Chinese, Korean and, of course, Japanese._"

"_But you're an American car, right?_"

"_I may have been assembled in Tennessee, but I'm a Toyota after all._"

"_Why didn't you say anything in Japanese until now? I can hardly understand what you say in English._"

"_I'm just a computer, Saotome-sama, not a mind reader. Until tonight you have only made one request in Japanese and I followed your directions at that time._"

"_The car doors, in LA, you're the one who closed and locked them. I'll be damned!_" Ranma sat back in his seat and laughed. "_Stupid tomboy insisting I use English and all the time the car speaks Japanese. Hey, that was a pretty neat trick you pulled just now. How fast were we going?_"

"_Our top speed was one hundred fifty four point six miles per hour, a new record for me._"

Ranma whistled. "_Not bad! Are you okay? That other car slammed into us pretty hard._"

"_There was no serious damage from the collisions. However, I registered three impacts on the rear door panel that are consistent with gunfire. My armor was not breached, but there may be paint damage._"

Ranma turned involuntarily to look out the back window. "_They were shooting at us? Maybe we should call the police?_"

"_I do not believe that will be necessary, Saotome-sama. The Nevada Traffic Advisory database has just registered a high-speed pursuit of a vehicle matching the description of our pursuer and two patrol cars. They are approaching the town of Mesquite, Nevada where a roadblock is being set up. Now might be a good time to return to Las Vegas, if that is our destination?_"

"_It is,_" Ranma said with a smile. "_Tell me something, Adam, do you have an on-line user manual?_"

"_Yes I do. I also have descriptions of all the modifications that were made after I left the factory. Would you like me to review them for you?_"

"_Can you do that in Japanese?_"

"_Of course, Saotome-sama._"

"_Adam,_" Ranma said as he put the car in gear and turned onto the ramp to West I-15. "_From now on, you can call me Ranma._"

x x x

Author's Notes:

(1) Shinkansen – Japanese bullet train. There have been several real proposals to build a high-speed rail line to Las Vegas based on Japanese designs.

(2) Taiko drum – Traditional Japanese ceremonial drum, usually very big and very loud.


End file.
